Margaret Price

1920 - 2019

PRICE Margaret C Price On June 24, 2019, Margaret Craighill Price, 99, died peacefully in the home she designed on a hilltop in Sperryville, Virginia. Mrs. Price was a person who embodied curiosity, perseverance, and intelligence. She was a woman both of her time and ahead of it. She was a life-long learner, eager even in her last days to hear the latest article on such broad and distinct topics as the natural history of feathers, the origin of black holes, or the early life of Thomas Jefferson. Of great significance in her life was the purchase in 1966 of a property in Rappahannock County, Virginia. This land became her private laboratory which served to nourish her passion for nature and scientific inquiry. She installed a road and pond, designed and cultivated flower and vegetable gardens, observed, protected and recorded her observations of local flora and fauna, and, ultimately, designed a home equipped with a solar heating and cooling system before public advocacy for renewable energies prevailed. She placed her acreage in a conservation easement in order to prevent further development and preserve open space. Mrs. Price never asked another person to perform a task she wouldn't do herself, and once a task was initiated, it had to be completed. Her physical strength defied all traditional expectations of age limitations. Well into her 80s she could be found on her farm laying a concrete foundation, weeding from dawn to dusk, or transplanting one of literally a thousand pine saplings. At the advanced age of 90, she left the retirement home in Washington, DC where she had settled after her husband's death, and traded in her city clothes for denim overalls as she moved to her farm full time. She never looked back. Mrs. Price was adaptable to life's circumstances; when macular degeneration did finally begin to restrict her activities, her can-do attitude prevented her from retreating from productive living. She passed on her hard-earned knowledge of how to cope by authoring a booklet entitled ?I Was About to Eat the Raisin on my Plate, but It Flew Away: Coping with Low Vision, a wry but essentially practical guide for those with failing eyesight. When totally blind, she continued to amass knowledge by listening to countless audio books with topics ranging from science to biography, from history to literature. She also took up knitting again making leg warmers, hats, and scarves by means of feel alone. Finally, she was the Keeper of the Flame of family. She wrote an extensive 2-volume family history, accompanied by photographs and family lore passed down from generation to generation. Her distinctive voice, assisted by a steel-trap memory, told a personal story but also enlightened for its readership the daily mechanics of early 20th century life. Mrs. Price considered the support and inclusion of all family members an essential virtue and she never missed an opportunity to assist those in need. Her family included many other people who had entered her sphere and regarded her as having a large impact on their lives. Originally from Washington, DC, Mrs. Price was born in the living room of her parents Georgetown home on February 19, 1920, during a snowstorm. Then Margaret Craighill, she spent her formative years as a student at the Potomac School in McLean, Virginia, and the Madeira School in Fairfax, Virginia. She attended Sweet Briar College, an institution she long credited with providing an invaluable academic and social experience. There she pursued dual interests in both math and dance. Later in life, she took part in the drafting of a newly worded charter for her alma mater, Sweet Briar College, in order to establish open admission to women of color. In 1942, she married William Fontaine Dorney and had her first child, the late Sharon Dorney Quill. Lieutenant Dorney did not survive World War II. In 1947, she married the late Karl R. Price, a Washington attorney. During and following World War II, Mrs. Price volunteered as a nurse's assistant in Minnesota and, later in Washington, DC, taught ballroom dance at Arthur Murray Studios and served as a bookkeeper for the National Cathedral. During married life in Washington, she volunteered at numerous charitable organizations, attended the Corcoran School of Art, and studied the Spanish language. Mrs. Price is survived by three daughters, Margaret Craighill Price of Coronado, California, Debora Price Utsinger of Ambler, Pennsylvania, and Carolyn Price Moore of Kirkwood, Pennsylvania. She is also survived by six grandchildren, Brian Quill, Nathan Tobiason, Jennie Utsinger, Anna Utsinger, Jian Yu Moore, and Xiao Moore; and by four great-grandchildren. Mrs. Price requested that no flowers be sent. Donations can be made to the Sperryville Volunteer Rescue Squad (www.sperryvillerescue.org), Habitat for Humanity (habitatrgv.org), Sweet Briar College (sbc.edu), and Dark Skies Initiative: Rappahannock League for Environmental Protection (rleporg/dark-skies). Services private. Please view and sign the family guestbook at: www.moserfuneralhome.com www.moserfuneralhome.com