Margaret Hathaway Wheeler, aged 92, died peacefully at Kimball Sunset Nursing Home on May 8, 2022.
She was born in Summit, New Jersey, and attended Westminster College. Her first jobs were in summer stock theater at Cleveland Playhouse, Falmouth Playhouse on Cape Cod, and the Detroit Repertory Theatre.
While in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, she started an independent bookstore. Later, moving to NYC, she worked in publishing, mainly for Praeger Publishers, a fine arts book publisher.
After buying a house in Mill River, she transitioned from weekender to full time citizen in the 1980s and started a picture framing business and gallery, Mill River Studio, which eventually found a home on Railroad Street in Great Barrington.
She lived with Eleanor Lord for 35 years, eventually marrying on November 18, 2003, the first day that gay marriage was legalized in Massachusetts, which was the first state in the country to do so. They lived for many years in Stockbridge and then on Monument Valley Road in Great Barrington.
Margaret was an avid reader, theater and dance supporter, and lesbian feminist activist. She loved travel, cooking and doing the Sunday Times crossword puzzle.
She is survived by her beloved daughter, Catherine Wheeler, who works at Shakespeare & Company and lives in Housatonic.
Condolences may be sent to Roche Funeral Home in Lenox. Donations may be made through Bonnie Stevens for the benefit of Shakespeare & Company.
