Margaret Parsons Cooney, known affectionately to her family and friends as “Peggy,” died peacefully in her sleep at 10 a.m. on Jan. 2 at Windward Gardens skilled-nursing facility in Camden. Peggy was the daughter of Neil L. Parsons, M.D. and Marion Albee Parsons of Damariscotta, and the wife of the late John R. Cooney of South Waldoboro.
Born Sept. 21, 1925 and raised in Damariscotta, Peggy quickly became a great fan of all things nature, animals, and sports. As a youth summering at her grandparents’ farm in North Conway, N.H., she developed a keen interest in horseback riding. She was a gifted athlete and lettered all four years while playing point-guard for Lincoln Academy’s women’s varsity basketball team. She continuously held individual scoring records in women’s basketball at Lincoln Academy for many years. She remained very proud of this feat. She was voted class Salutatorian and graduated in 1943. She subsequently attended Duke University for one year, but was returned home in 1944 for personal reasons. She attended the Sargent School for physical education in Cambridge, Mass. short-term before enrolling in Katherine Gibbs Secretarial School in New York. For a brief while she sold cotton futures on the Boston Commodity Exchange.
In 1947 she met John “Jack” R. Cooney of Waldoboro. A brief courtship ensued and they were eventually married on Sept. 17, 1949. Jack, known to many as “White,” was the manager of The Waldo Theatre in Waldoboro, built by the late Carroll T. Cooney. In the early 1950s the couple wintered in the “Hounds Tooth” apartment, affiliated with the theatre, while slowly refurbishing and winterizing the Cooney family summer home in South Waldoboro. Peggy was very instrumental in the practical aspects of seeing this project through. Jack subsequently founded Vocaline Technologies with his brother Carroll. In 1957 the newlyweds took up permanent residence at “The Knoll,” raising three children and braving long, cold, snowy winters at the isolated end of a mile-long dirt road which White plowed with a ’68 Willys Jeep.
Peggy loved birding, her year-round nature walks and sailing with White on Muscongus Bay. She encouraged her daughter Elizabeth to take up horseback riding, bought her a horse against her husband’s wishes and pursued this hobby with her daughter for many years, stabling the horses in Warren. Peggy was actively involved with Waldoboro’s P.T.A. and, for many years, led Waldoboro’s local Girl Scout troop. In the mid-70s Peggy pursued an associates’ degree in sociology at the University of Maine’s extension school in Augusta. She graduated with honors from this program, an accomplishment she was also extremely proud of. Finally, Peggy developed a keen interest in business and was very successful investing in the stock market.
Following White’s death in 2002, she finally left The Knoll in December of 2004 and moved into Chase Point’s assisted-living facility in Damariscotta. She was a very popular resident of Chase Point and enjoyed 10 additional years of quality life before failing in 2013 and transferring to Windward Gardens.
She is survived by her sister, Patricia Fales of Damariscotta; son, John Jr.; granddaughter, Carlie B. Cooney of Ellington, Conn.; daughter, Elizabeth L. Cooney of Killingworth, Conn., and daughter, Caroline T. Moore, grandson Jack, and granddaughter, Madeline Moore of Wayland, Mass.
Public visiting hours will be from 3-5 p.m., Sat., Jan. 10 at Hall’s Funeral Home, 949 Main St. in Waldoboro. A private memorial service for Peggy will be held this coming summer at the family home in South Waldoboro.
You are invited to share your condolences, memories, and photos with the family by visiting their Book of Memories at www.hallfuneralhomes.com
Arrangements are entrusted to Hall Funeral Home and Cremation Services, 949 Main St., Waldoboro.
