Margaret (Meg) Conyers Macfarlane

Margaret (Meg) Conyers Macfarlane was 27 days away from her 79th birthday when she passed away at home on April 2, 2026, surrounded by love from her sister, Judy; niece, Danielle; and best friend, Annemari.

The cause of death was cancer, her 8th cancer diagnosis since 2003.

Margaret was 12 years old when she told everyone she was now to be called Meg. She’d read Little Women and felt a kinship to Meg in the story, the eldest, beautiful, responsible sister. Meg Conyers was also the eldest of four siblings, beautiful, and had a lot of responsibility at a young age caring for her younger siblings. Her parents often both worked two jobs, trying to survive and support the family which meant Meg had to be her siblings’ surrogate mother.

Meg had a rebellious nature from a young age. She had a lot to rebel against given all the responsibility she had. Sometimes that rebellion took a self-destructive turn, however she would ultimately take that rebellion and turn it into positive action, both personally and politically.

She began smoking in 8th grade when it was the cool thing to do, back when doctors in white coats were doing commercials for cigarette brands, before the Surgeon General’s report came out on the health hazards of smoking. In December of 2003, Meg had her first cancer diagnosis—lung cancer with a 15% chance of survival. She stopped smoking for the rest of her life, did whatever her doctors told her to do, and was cancer free until 2013 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She later was diagnosed with cancer in her other breast, multiple melanomas, and finally lung and liver cancer. Meg made Ruth Bader Ginsberg look like a lightweight.

When she was in her late teens Meg began drinking alcohol. Too much alcohol. When she was 30 years old, on May 23, 1977, she walked into her first AA meeting and never looked back. She is that rare person who never took another drink after entering AA. Over the past almost 49 years, she has sponsored 100’s of people in AA and created community with people from all over the world on Zoom recovery meetings.

The saddest day of Meg’s life was the day in 1967 when she gave her son away for adoption after he was born. She knew she could not be a parent to him at that time and understood that the best way she could love her son was to let go, let God, and let someone else give him the love and stability he would need. There wasn’t a day that went by that she didn’t think about him and hope that he would someday find her.

The happiest day of Meg’s life was the day in 1995 when she was reunited with her son, Matt. She learned that everything she’d hoped for him had come true. He had been raised by a loving couple who had given Matt the love and stability she’d wanted him to have. Matt’s parents, Elaine and Lewis, didn’t hesitate to welcome Meg into the family, creating a bond that was never broken.

When Meg was diagnosed with cancer in 2003, she was working at the University of Penn and living in Philadelphia. In 2005, she moved to Lancaster, PA, to be near Matt and his family. Meg worked at the University of Pennsylvania from 1987-2012, retiring as the Practice Manager, Ophthalmology at the Scheie Eye Institute and spent the early years of her retirement focused on her beloved grandchildren, Max, Jacob, and Lane. She loved being close by to pick them up from after-school activities, spend weekends with them, being available whenever needed, and being a part of their lives.

In 2016, after the presidential election results, Meg pulled out her O.G. protesting skills from back in the day of protesting the War in Vietnam, advocating for the ratification of the ERA amendment and a favorable decision in Roe v. Wade, to protest and take action against the first Trump administration’s inhumane treatment of immigrants. She was a charter member and chairperson of the Citizens' Immigration and Refugee Action Committee (CIRAC), formed in 2017. CIRAC advocates for refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants who come to Lancaster, mostly through Church World Services and was an integral component of Lancaster City becoming one of the first "Cities of Welcome" in the US.

In 2018, when Jess King ran for Congress in Lancaster, PA, Meg delighted in being heavily involved in the campaign. As Jess King said, “Meg adopted the Jess King for Congress campaign like a job in her retirement, but even more so she adopted the people she worked with and became like a mom or grandma to so many. From high school and college interns to the campaign staff to the group of volunteers who called themselves the Bad Ass Women, Meg tended to the people around her with side splitting humor, care and kindness. Her campaign experience led to almost a decade of sustained engagement in local organizing to back up her beliefs in fairness, opportunity and democracy.”

In November of 2018, the group of volunteers formalized their community involvement and became Bold Action Works (BAWS), aka Bad Ass Women. As a founding member, Meg was the Baddest of the Badasses, the heart and soul of the group dedicated to hyper-local activism and community building for nearly eight years. As a chief instigator she helped the BAWS with efforts to educate and organize locally through lobbying representatives, speaking at events, voter registration drives, canvassing for candidates and attending protests; all while exhibiting her sharp wit, love, and willingness to listen to each and every person and give tough advice. Meg's effectiveness was enhanced through her lived experience which she shared generously and authentically, and her fighting spirit will continue on in her legion of fans.

Meg loved the Ally McBeal episode where Ally’s therapist tells her all she needs is a good theme song. Meg’s theme song was The Beatles’ song The End, especially “And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.” Meg is taking a lot of love with her.

Meg is survived by her son, Matt Kopelman, and her beloved grandchildren Max Kopelman, Jacob Kopelman, and Lane Kopelman; her sister, Nancy Conyers and her wife, Libby Costin; sister, Judy Conyers; brother Chris Conyers and his wife, Jill Conyers; niece, Danielle Conyers; nephew, Chris Conyers; and 25+ cousins from the Keller Conyers Cousins Crew; Matt’s adoptive parents Elaine and Lewis Kopelman; her ex-daughters-in-law Kelly Stamp Kopelman and Nancy Donahue Kopelman; and her step daughters Jeanne Lomanno, Barb Condit, and Susan Clark and her husband Skip Clark.

A Celebration of Meg’s Life will be held on Saturday, May 23rd at 2:00pm at the 521 Club, 2400 Butter Rd., Lancaster, PA 17601. For anyone who can’t physically attend, a Zoom link will be provided closer to the date.

In lieu of flowers donations may be made in Meg’s name to the 521 Club, https://www.the521club.com/, or Hospice and Community Care, https://www.hospiceandcommunitycare.org/