Mrs. Margaret F. Smith

Margaret F. Smith of Vienna, VA, passed away on July 30, 2023 after her health declined following a major surgery. She is survived by her son Matthew and daughter-in-law Anna; son Mark and daughter-in-law Alicia; grandchildren Katharine, Clayton, and Charlie; sister Mary Ann Ferguson; niece Margaret Ferguson-Maltzman; and nephew Daniel Ferguson-Maltzman. She is predeceased by her husband of 53 years, LTC David B. Smith.

Friends knew her as Peggy. She was born in 1945 to William and Mary Ferguson in Toms River, NJ, beginning her lifelong love of all things Jersey, especially the shore. Peggy overcame the loss of both of her parents at a tender age to live a full life of adventure, learning, service, and love. She studied Education and Spanish at Montclair State College and later earned a Masters in Special Education from Leslie College. She held a number of teaching and other jobs and did them well—but her life was shaped more by her relationships than her professions. While still an undergraduate, she met the love of her life, David, an Army officer. They continued their courtship while he was deployed to Vietnam and she was an exchange student in Japan—he visited her there while on leave—and they married in 1967. Until David’s passing in late 2020, he and Peggy were apart from each other only once, during David’s second deployment to Vietnam.

Peggy and her family lived for many years in Greece, where David served multiple tours over two decades as a foreign area officer and military attaché. A distinguished honors graduate of the Defense Language Institute, Peggy remained fluent in Greek throughout her life. As David’s stalwart partner, she became a skilled and engaging host and diplomat who nurtured enduring friendships and won admirers wherever she went. They traveled extensively in the US and abroad, sharing a love of culture, the arts, food, and history.

Peggy’s boundless energy and varied interests also characterized her approach to service. When her children were young, she took on leadership roles in their schools and in scouting. She served for years as a Stephens minister in her Lutheran church, and in prison ministries in Athens. On election days stateside, she could often be found working as a poll officer.

As a member over 23 years in the Vienna Women’s Club, Peggy marshaled club support for the Fairfax Lamb Center and for Second Story, a charity that helps young women in crisis, and she participated in education and advocacy to combat human trafficking in our community. An adventurous and skilled cook, Peggy earned a reputation as the club’s “foodie,” catering Christmas concerts at Wolf Trap, helping at the club’s Vienna Harvest bazaar and ice cream socials, and coordinating and hosting elaborate internationally-themed dinners.

Peggy proudly served alongside David in leadership roles with the Vienna Host Lions Club, including several years as its vice president, and as club president in 2016—when she also was named the chapter’s Lion of the Year. A Melvin Jones Fellow, she regularly volunteered with the Lions’ eyeglass-recycling efforts and helped staff a pop-up clinic to provide free vision care to impoverished communities in rural southwestern Virginia. Peggy was a familiar presence at signature Vienna Lions events, including annual Charter Nights and holiday celebrations, tree sales, the music scholarship competition, and fundraising. Fellow Lions may best remember Peggy for her creative and meticulous planning, with David, of the club’s annual Mystery Trips, in which club members and friends boarded charter buses for secret itinerary and dining destinations.

In good times and bad, love was a defining characteristic of Peggy’s life. She cherished her family and friends, and was particularly overjoyed when with her three grandchildren, supporting their interests and fostering new ones at museums, parks and historical sites, the theater, and her favorite restaurants.
We loved Peggy Smith and her adventurous spirit, remarkable intellect, unending curiosity, and fascination with nature. We remember her generosity and encouragement, her letters and postcards, her laughter, and her loyalty. We will miss her holidays, her hospitality and delicious meals, her beautiful gardens, and the creativity, whimsy, wit, and joy she shared with others, doing the things she loved.

Peggy’s life will be celebrated on November 20, 2023, at 3 p.m. at the Fort Myer Old Post Chapel, followed by burial at Arlington National Cemetery. Peggy suggested that those wishing to make a charitable donation in her memory might consider Fisher House https://fisherhouse.org/, Tunnels to Towers Foundation https://t2t.org/, or the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation https://www.cff.org/.