Jan 8

Jan 8 Margaret Good Kippax

Margaret (“Peggy”) Good Kippax of Dunwoody Village, Newtown Square, passed away peacefully on October 4. She was 97.

Peggy will be remembered for a long life dedicated to her family, friends, community, and church, and to her work for charitable institutions. Her innate leadership skills and journalist’s ability to listen carefully and write with clarity touched all her endeavors. Peggy was a skilled and prolific letter writer and kept in touch with friends from near and far throughout her life. She was warm, fun, pretty, smart, and a joy to be with. She is missed by all who knew her.

Born Margaret Linn Good to John Good, MD, and Margaret Attick Good, a registered nurse, Peggy grew up in Harrisburg, where her young father was chief of medicine at Harrisburg Hospital. Dr. Good tragically contracted diphtheria from a patient and died when Peggy (their only child), was six months old. Despite losing her father, Peggy flourished under the care of her mother and other relatives. She said that “if she was at all mildly successful in life, it was because she had a remarkable, wonderful nurse for a mother and dear friend, who believed in the power and success of trust and freedom.”

She graduated from William Penn High School, Harrisburg, with high honors. She was vice president of her class and was voted “most popular, best natured, wittiest, most studious, most original, most beneficial and most admired.” These attributes followed her throughout her long life.

Peggy received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Penn State University’s School of Journalism and Communications in 1945, where she excelled. At Penn State, she was a member of the Alpha Omega Honor Society and of the Mortar Board, a national honor society that recognizes seniors for their achievement in scholarship, leadership, and service. She was also an editor of the Penn State Daily Collegian and was listed in Who’s Who in American Universities and Colleges. She later became a loyal alum, receiving Penn State’s Sustaining Life Member Award in 2012 in recognition of her years of support. To her last days, she also remained a fan of Penn State’s football team, the Nittany Lions (and she is still cheering them on)!

After graduation, Peggy went on to work for the Scott Paper Company, where she was the head of corporate public relations and an editor of employee publications.

In 1947, Peggy married Lynn (“Kip”) Kippax. Kip, also a Penn State graduate, was a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy who had served in the Atlantic and Pacific theaters during World War II. They were married at the Swarthmore Presbyterian Church and made their home in Swarthmore, where they raised three sons. They were devoted members of their church, and both served as elders. Kip was instrumental in the design of the church’s Parish Hall addition, and the design of its Memorial Garden, where Peggy will be interred. She taught Sunday school there for many years and served on the Parish Search Committee. It was not uncommon to find a Presbyterian minister at the Kippaxs’ kitchen counter visiting with Peggy and Kip and enjoying their hospitality.

Throughout her life, Peggy was involved in many philanthropic organizations. In the 1980s and ‘90s, she was co-chair of the Philadelphia Antiques Show (which benefitted Pennsylvania Hospital), co-chair of the West Philadelphia Woman’s Committee for the Philadelphia Orchestra, and a Philadelphia Art Alliance board member.

In Swarthmore, she was a Red Cross volunteer, a member (for more than 50 years) of the Philanthropic Education Organization (which provides scholarships to college-bound women), and a blood-donor program volunteer. She also served as secretary for the Swarthmore Players Club and acted in a number of their plays.

In neighboring Chester, she was a volunteer third grade teacher’s aide at the Smedley School. And at Dunwoody Village, her retirement residence, she volunteered in its resale shop, which raises funds to benefit residents — for example by providing fresh flowers for the communal dining room, sponsoring cultural programs, and obtaining a magnificent mural to brighten up one of the walls in the nursing section.

In each of her activities, Peggy was part of an engaged, hands-on group of people who learned from each other and were enriched by their friendships.

Peggy and Kip loved to entertain family and friends in their home in Swarthmore. There was a constant flow of visitors who would drop by, usually unannounced, and enter at the back of the house, through the kitchen door, which was never locked. In 1960, Peggy’s mother, Margaret Good, came to live with Peggy and Kip, forming a three-generation household. Those years were filled with Kip’s affectionate kidding — he reveled in the wonderful relationship he had with his mother-in-law – and there was no one better than Margaret for their three adolescent boys to commiserate with. Peggy was a magnificent cook and could create a memorable feast with precision. When they left their home in Swarthmore to move to Dunwoody Village, Kip said to Peggy, “I feel like I am removing the artist from her studio.”

Peggy cherished the time spent with family during their summers in Weekapaug, Rhode Island, escaping the Philadelphia heat and enjoying long walks on the beach, a sail on Quonochontaug Pond, or an evening clambake on the beach. Peggy loved to swim, and in Swarthmore was part of the 1000-lap club at her local pool. After Kip retired, the couple enjoyed travelling abroad with friends or on sponsored trips with the Scott Horticultural Foundation or the Mexican Society of Philadelphia.

Peggy is survived by her son Jeffrey M. Kippax of Philadelphia and her son John Edward Kippax and daughter-in-law Helen Frech Kippax of Larchmont, New York; her grandchildren, John Edward Kippax Jr. of Stamford, Connecticut, James Bowdoin Kippax and his wife Larissa of Larchmont, New York, and Jeffrey Lynn Kippax of Los Angeles; and three great-grandchildren, Emma, Sophia, and Jacob Kippax, all of Larchmont, New York.

She was predeceased by her son Lynn Kippax Jr. of York Harbor, Maine, and by her beloved husband, Lynn Kippax.

A memorial service is tentatively scheduled (subject to spring COVID-19 restrictions) for 11 a.m. on May 1 at the Swarthmore Presbyterian Church.

The family has requested that donations be made to the P.E.O. Foundation. Please designate Chapter P in memory of Peggy and her dedication to supporting higher education for women.