Margaret M. "Peggy" Wyllie

1934 - 2025

Margaret "Peggy" M. Wyllie, a beloved longtime resident of Fanwood, N.J., passed away peacefully on Saturday, August 16, 2025. She was 91.

Peggy, who came into the world on April 27, 1934 to Wayne and Mary Brady, was born and raised in Brookville.

After graduating from Brookville High School in 1952, Peggy earned her associate's degree in legal secretary studies from Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove.

While at Susquehanna, Peggy met the love of her life, Robert "Bob" Wyllie, and was a proud member of the Alpha Delta Pi Sorority. Peggy's daughter, Janet, and granddaughter, Rachel, followed in her footsteps as proud graduates of Susquehanna.

In 1955, Peggy was chosen as Miss Sesquicentennial of Jefferson County, one of the most prestigious honors for a beauty queen in Pennsylvania. A year later, on June 16, 1956, she married Bob, and in 1959, they moved to a newly constructed home on Thorne Place in Fanwood, where they raised their two children, Paul and Janet, and built a life together. Peggy and Bob were married for 58 years and lived in the same house for more than 50 years.

Peggy began her career as an executive secretary at Bell Labs in Murray Hill, where she made many lifelong friends. She also worked in a South Plainfield law office and served as a medical secretary at Ciba-Geigy Corp. (later Novartis) in Summit. She eventually became a secretary for the Director of Health Services and retired in 1997.

With Bob, she became a world traveler, exploring countries including England, France, Scotland, Italy, Peru and Switzerland.

At home, Peggy could often be found at aerobics classes at the Fanwood-Scotch Plains YMCA, exercising with her daughter at Curves, and, of course, shopping for hours at Irma's Bag. Peggy also enjoyed playing bridge, watching her favorite soap operas, cooking up one of her many palate-pleasing dishes for friends and family, listening to Michael Bublé and Michael Feinstein and curling up with one of her many cats.

Cats weren't the only animals Peggy loved.

Bunnies, chipmunks, birds and even stray cats would flock like bees to honey to Peggy's lyrical voice as she tossed treats to them from her porch.

Known for her infectious laugh, expressive spirit, sparkling blue eyes, sweet Western Pennsylvania drawl and a mile-wide smile, Peggy was the heartbeat of every gathering.

A selfless woman with boundless energy, unconditional love, a zest for life, and a heart twice the size of Texas, Peggy also had an uncanny knack for making friends wherever she went, accumulating friends as rapidly as she collected change in her ever-present purse.

From neighbors and co-workers to bank tellers, grocery clerks, and even the staff at Wendy's, where she often stopped for a chocolate Frosty, Peggy touched the lives of all those she came across, making everyone's day better with her warmhearted ways.

Peggy's kindness was effortless, abundant and contagious - tossed around like confetti. She left a trail of goodness in her wake, created unbreakable bonds with all who knew her, and lived life to the fullest!

Peggy was one of a kind and will be remembered as a true original, a unique and vibrant storyteller, a loving matriarch, and a real-life angel whose presence lit up every room. She leaves behind a legacy of compassion, friendship, limitless love of family and the joy she brought to others.

A devoted wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister and friend, Peggy's greatest treasure was her family.

God bless your heart, Peggy. You made the world a better place!

Peggy was predeceased by her husband, Bob; her parents, Wayne and Mary Brady; and her sister, Ann Maree.

Surviving are her son, Paul, and his wife, Mary Jean; her daughter, Janet Lambert, and her husband, Jim; her grandchildren, Matthew Wyllie and his wife, Marie, Anthony Wyllie, Victoria Wyllie, Rachel Lambert and her fiancé, Tyler, and Jennifer Lambert; and her great-granddaughter, Marianna.

Peggy was a longtime parishioner of Immaculate Heart of Mary Roman Catholic Church in Scotch Plains.

Visitation will be at Memorial Funeral Home, 155 South Avenue, Fanwood, on Friday, August 22, from 4 to 8 p.m.

Funeral Mass will be celebrated at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, located at 1571 Martine Avenue, Scotch Plains, on Saturday, August 23, 2025 at 10 a.m., followed by interment at Fairview Cemetery in Westfield.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Ronald McDonald House or to the St. Hubert's Animal Welfare Center.

For additional information or to sign the guestbook, visit www.fanwoodmemorial.com.