Margaret B. Mentzer

     Margaret (Peggy) Beery Mentzer, 92, died peacefully at home on January 7, 2026. She was born on November 4, 1933, in Renovo, PA, the daughter of George and Rosanna (Garner) Beery. She graduated from Douglass College of Rutgers University in 1955 where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She moved to Washington, DC in 1956 and worked for the National Geographic Society and Kiplinger Washington Editors. She met her husband Ron Mentzer on a blind date, and they married on August 24, 1957. They have three daughters, Rosanna (Todd) Morrison of Bethesda, MD; Valerie Mentzer of Crofton, MD; and Adrienne (Jeffrey) Watts Dayton of Lake Monticello, VA.

     The Mentzer’s lived in Bowie, MD, for almost 30 years where she was active in partisan and non-partisan politics, notably being one of the youngest delegates to the Maryland Constitutional Convention in 1967-68. From 1970 to 1990 she was a real estate broker. She and Ron retired to Sebring, FL, in 1990. Later they lived in Ocala, FL, before moving in 2006 to the Riderwood retirement community in Silver Spring, MD. She enjoyed duplicate bridge, travel, genealogy, reading, and writing family history.

     Peggy was active in civic and community organizations such as the League of Women Voters. In retirement she volunteered as a guardian ad litem, an art museum docent, in public and church libraries, and as a census taker and election judge. Peggy was a member of Christ Congregational Church in Silver Spring, and the Mary Washington Chapter of the DAR.

     In addition to her husband and children, she is survived by eight grandchildren: Margaret Morrison; Leslie (Andrew Brodeur) Morrison; Lindsay (Alexander) Holden; Tessa Morrison; Ronald Mentzer; Jason (Alexandra) Watts; Kathleen Morrison; and Kevin Watts; five great grandchildren, Sheridan and Cormac Brodeur, Carter and Benjamin Holden, and Lucas Watts; and a sister, Patricia (Howard) Leafty of Southampton, NJ.

     The private interment will be held in the Fairview Cemetery, Martinsburg, PA, with a memorial service planned for later at Riderwood. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions in memory of Peggy may be given to the Friends of Maryland Library for the Blind & Print Disabled.

Arrangements by the Fink & Stone Funeral Home and Cremation Service Inc., Martinsburg

www.finkandstonefh.com