Margaret Moore Dickey

Margaret was born at home as Margaret Elizabeth Moore in Taylorstown, PA on April 28, 1919. Her father Lee M. Moore was a minister who served small parishes in western PA, WV, and northern Ohio. Her mother Ione Ranft, of Baltimore, served alongside Lee for over 50 of marriage and raised their three daughters. Margaret, the eldest daughter, was known all her life as "Peggy" to family and friends. She graduated from Leipsig (OH) high school in 1937. She attended Ohio Northern University in Ada, OH, where she edited the college yearbook and was active in social and cultural activities, graduating with a BS degree in 1941. That fall she began what was eventually to be a long career in education, starting with teaching high school Latin and English.

In 1942 she met Murray C. Dickey of Continental, OH, who shortly afterwards went on active duty with the Navy Seabees. The couple was married in 1943 and moved to Williamsburg, VA. While Murray was stationed at nearby Camp Peary, Margaret worked for Historic Williamsburg and the couple maintained an apartment in the historic district. Margaret looked back on upon her time in Williamsburg with special fondness for the rest of her life. After Murray's discharge from the Navy in 1945, the couple moved to the northeastern OH area. They lived in several towns in the area, including Cleveland, where Margaret worked for two years as a secretary. They had their first child while living in Elyria OH, and moved for a time to Erie, PA, where two more daughters were born, completing the family. In 1952, Murray's career took the family to Ravenna, OH, where Margaret was to live for the next nearly 60 years. In 1956, Margaret resumed her teaching career in the Charlestown Elementary School. She taught there and in other schools of the Southeast Portage County School District near Ravenna until her retirement in 1984.

After retirement, Margaret remained in Ravenna. She was active as a volunteer for many community and charitable organizations, including ten years at the Longmeadow Care Center. Among her most consistent commitments was active stewardship at the Ravenna First Christian Church. She was a loyal and valued member of the congregation for all of the nearly 60 years of her life in Ravenna. She loved to travel, and was thrilled to be able to fulfill several long-standing travel dreams, including trips to Alaska, Hawaii, and France. She often visited her three children, who had scattered to far points of the country, and enjoyed traveling with them as well. In 2011, she moved from Ravenna to Central SC to be close to a daughter there.

Margaret is survived by son Martin Dickey of Seattle WA, daughter Susan Meitz of El Cajon CA, daughter Jean Dickey of Clemson SC, and four granddaughters. She was preceded in death by both of her sisters and by her former husband.

Condolences may be expressed online at www.robinsonfuneralhomes.com or at Duckett-Robinson Funeral Home, Central, SC.