Margaret "Peggy" M. Kane

Margaret "Peggy" Madara Kane, 89, of Danvers, MA, passed away peacefully at Beverly Hospital, following a brief illness, on Saturday, November 11, 2023, with family at her side. The beloved wife of 58 years to the late Donald E. Kane, who died in 2015, Peggy is survived by son David and his wife Susan, of Almond, NC and their 3 children, Sean, Marlaina and Aaron; son John of Clinton, MT; and daughter Suzanne and her husband Paul McCarthy and their 2 children, Benjamin, 24, and Sean, 21, all of Marblehead, MA. Peggy is predeceased by her parents, John Madara and Ruth Prosser Madara, and brother John M. Madara, all of Pennsylvania.

Peggy led a remarkably fulfilling life that touched the lives of many others in her diversified roles as

mother, pastor, nurse and educator. The eldest of John and Ruth Madara’s two children, Peggy was born

on July 7, 1934 in Darby, PA. She left Pennsylvania and was graduated from Mount Holyoke College in

South Hadley, MA, in 1956, and it was also there where she met her future husband Don, who was

attending Amherst College. They were married in 1957, and went on to have 3 children that

accompanied them and shared life experiences throughout their family journeys that included stops in

Louisville, KY, Fairfield, CT, Clinton (Rock Creek) MT, Sequim, WA, Swampscott, MA and Marco Island, FL.

Peggy spent the final few years of her life residing at The Atrium in Danvers, MA, where she was close to

the McCarthy family until her passing in November.

Peggy’s enduring memories will always revolve around the lives of her 3 children, and it was remarkable

what she accomplished while raising them with her husband Don, a long-time GE executive. She earned

a degree in Nursing from the University of Bridgeport at the age of 41 in 1975, following 6 years of

part-time study squeezed into her busy schedule of raising 3 kids. Peggy went on to become the

Director of the Bridgeport area hospice program in the early 1980s. She continued in that role until

1986, when her interests were expanding to the religious sector. She entered Yale Divinity School in

1984, and became an ordained Methodist minister upon her graduation from Yale at the age of 54 in

1988.

In 1989 Peggy and her now-retired husband Don built a house in a beautiful area outside of Missoula,

MT. known as Rock Creek, and the couple went on to live there, and later Sequim, WA and Marco Island,

FL (winters) over the next two-plus decades. Both were avid wildlife and nature enthusiasts, with Don

enjoying fishing, and Peggy bird-watching as favorite pastimes. They also loved to travel, and Peggy

would often mention London as one of her favorite locations outside of the USA.

While residing in Rock Creek area, Peggy put both her nursing and pastoral degrees to use with

dedicated community-based work as both a hospice director for the Missoula area program, and a

“roving” minister. One of her first assignments upon relocating 2700 miles away from Fairfield, CT, was

to serve as interim pastor to 3 separate congregations in Granite County, MT – all at the same time - near

her Rock Creek home. She drove 29,000 miles while performing duties from Sunday masses to weddings

to funerals at those 3 congregations over the course of 9 months.

Anyone who knew Peggy will remember the joy that her many pets brought into her life. In lieu of

flowers, donations can be made in her name to the Humane Society or other animal-focused charity. Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared eustisandcornellfuneralhome.com for the Kane family.