MARGARET HOLLISTER Obituary

MARGARET IRENE HAYES HOLLISTER (Age 101)
Died peacefully late Thursday afternoon, January 3, 2019, in White River Junction, VT.Margaret was born April 15, 1917, in New York, New York, to John D. and Barbara (Kelman) Hayes. The daughter of missionaries, she grew up in Beijing, China, the bustling, walled capital city she loved. She graduated from Wellesley College in 1939. In 1942, she married William Hollister, and they made their home in the Washington, DC area, raising two sons. Bill and Margaret divorced in 1963. After receiving her Masters Degree in Social Work from Catholic University in 1961, Margaret had a long, fulfilling career as a Social Worker in the DC Community Mental Health system until retiring in her 80's. As she said, she "loved every day of it".Margaret was passionate and engaged, active in the civil rights, antiwar, and women's movements. She loved music and took up the cello at the age of 62. A lifelong book lover, she was active in Friends of the Southeast Library. After retirement, she wrote and published a memoir, Inheriting China. And she found endless delight in her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Margaret's eldest son Donald died in 1972. She is survived by her son Paul and his wife, Marianne Burke, of Lebanon, NH; by grandchildren Sarah, Rebecca, and Michael; by great grandchildren Damon, Emily, Nico, Hadley, Saoirse, and Greta; by her brother John Hayes and his wife Jocelyn of Belmont, MA; and by nieces Susan Fentin, Cathy McAllister, and Ellen Tinen, and nephew Bill Guba, and their families.A celebration of Margaret's life will take place on Sunday, February 17, at 3 p.m. at the Hill Center, 921 Pennsylvania Ave SE, Washington, DC. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the United Negro College Fund or Oxfam.

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Published by The Washington Post on Jan. 25, 2019.

Memories and Condolences
for MARGARET HOLLISTER

9 Entries

Louise Fenner

January 23, 2021

David and I still miss Margaret so much

"nurse" Ted Martin

February 24, 2019

Margaret is a STAR. She brought life and love, the thirst for knowledge and human understanding to everyone she met in this life. When I met her I knew I had found a soul mate. Of course, she made many feel the same way. I continue to feel enriched by knowing her as I think of her often and the legacy she left in people's minds and hearts. She continues to shine

Francia Baker

February 11, 2019

My Condolences to the Hollister family, Margaret lived a long a productive life, she will be miss.

Elissa Silverstein

February 2, 2019

While my time with Margaret was a fleeting blip in the last few months of her life, I was overjoyed to have her in my life. There are just people you meet that immediately become family and speak to a piece of who you are that most don't know. Margaret was this person for me. Thank you for sharing her with us here in Vermont. <3

Judith Penski

January 28, 2019

Margaret was a shining light of love. She was interested in everybody and everything about them. She shared her humor and intelligence graciously and abundantly. I will always miss her.

Pudge Eaton

January 27, 2019

Such an amazing women and she so enjoyed being with her family. She will certainly have a place in all of our hearts.
Thank you for Shari g her wth all of us.
Love
Pudge

David Minckler

January 27, 2019

Margaret was my next-door neighbor for 26 years. She was quirky but interesting, with an exotic family history. I came under the spell of her many stories about her past. She became my second mother.

January 25, 2019

My condolences to the Hollister family for the loss of your dear loved one. May you be strengthened with all power, so that you may fully endure with patience and joy.

Louise Fenner

January 25, 2019

There's no way to do justice to Margaret's extraordinary personality. She grew up in China as the daughter of Presbyterian missionaries, went to Wellesley, loved being a social worker in DC, took up the cello at age 62. She loved the ocean and spent a week in Bethany Beach with her friends every year for more than 40 years. In the 1960s her house was a safe house for Vietnam war protestors. When we moved next door to Margaret in April 1990, in the pouring rain, she brought over a plate of cookies. She had a Franklin wood-burning stove in her living room. Last year at the age of 101 she traveled alone on the train from Washington, DC, to Boston. She was well-informed, read the New Yorker faithfully, always asked sharp questions about the news and about the person she was talking to. She never, ever discussed whatever aches and pains she had. If she fell, she just got up. She was a brilliant writer, publishing her memoir, "Inheriting China," at the age of 91. Her family's papers are in the Library of Congress. She was a force of nature. The world is a less interesting place without Margaret.

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