Margaret Mackinnon Hasbrouck
Margaret “Peggy” Mackinnon Hasbrouck died on June 16, 2021 at home surrounded by family. The cause was vascular dementia.
A 65-year resident of Swarthmore, Peggy and her husband Bevier (“Bevo”) Hasbrouck raised seven children and welcomed many others into their home over the years. She served her local community as a Girl Scout leader for many years, taught at Media Friends and Lansdowne Friends Schools, and was a reading specialist. She was also an activist and supporter of many efforts for peace, freedom, and the environment. She was active in protesting construction of the Limerick (Pennsylvania) Nuclear Power Station and wars in Central America and the Middle East, and quietly helped lead a weekly, multi-congregational meal for homeless people at SEPTA’s 69th Street Terminal.
Neighbors knew her for the haunted Halloween house the family produced for years, but also for her generosity and giving nature. Hasbrouck dinners frequently included a few extra guests, homesick Swarthmore College students, neighborhood children, or family friends — and for years she organized potluck dinners to follow Catholic Mass of the Swarthmore College Newman Club.
Born in Paterson, New Jersey, just a few weeks before the 1929 stock market crash, to Margaret Mackinnon Gorry and John F. Gorry, Peggy grew up on Staten Island, New York, and several places in New Jersey, and had year-long stays in Greenock, Scotland, with her mother, brother John “Ian” Gorry (formerly of Swarthmore), and grandmother. She met Bevo Hasbrouck in 1945 when they were singing in a church choir in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and they were married four years later. Peggy graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1950. They bought their home in 1955, next door to the Swarthmore Fire Station.
Peggy enjoyed folk dancing, canoeing, camping, playing the violin, knitting, sewing, and having good times with her family and friends. Her children remember her as an incredibly patient and loving mother, who taught them not only fabric arts, cooking, baking, camping, swimming, and other life skills, but also how to get along with other people, be hard workers, encourage and organize others, and to be good listeners. She taught these through calm conversations, but most importantly through example.
Peggy is survived and sorely missed by her husband of 72 years; all seven of her children (Helen, Edith, Phyllis, Mary, Douglas, Alice, Kenneth); her nephew Stephen Gorry; her eight grandchildren; one great-grandchild; her brother Dr. John Gorry of Watertown, Massachusetts; and many nieces and nephews.
A memorial service is being planned for later this summer. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to The Brandywine Peace Community, The Catholic Worker (Philadelphia), or your local food bank.
