Marguerite G. Dinan

FALMOUTH – Marguerite G. Dinan, fondly known as “Peg” or “Peggy”, passed away on Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, at her home in Falmouth.

The only child of Dennis Guinane and Margaret Nuttin, Peggy was born in Detroit, Mich., in 1934, growing up and attending high school in Grosse Pointe, Mich. She graduated from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, with a Degree in Education. Always cutting her own path, she was the first group of female students allowed to live off-campus at the University of Michigan. While there, she and her husband of 57 years, Dr. John T. Dinan Jr., first met at the dumpster outside their college apartment building.

She was a 1st and 2nd grade teacher before having children and worked at L.L.Bean for many years once her children were teenagers. Her most notable career was founding and running The Straw Hat Circuit, a bus tour company that provided guided tours from Portland to Boston and eventually New York. If asked, she would say her greatest job was being a mother.

She was a lifelong and prominent antique collector. She was respected, and her opinion sought after, in the antique community as an expert in Nantucket Light Ship baskets, Frankart, prints and export porcelain. She loved anything with a lemon on it.

Peggy enjoyed helping those in need. She loved and tried to care for all animals. Throughout her lifetime, she had many wonderful dogs, best of friends, who she said were the truest of souls. She helped found and run the Maine Cleo Fund, a predecessor to the SPCA. She had many philanthropic endeavors and constantly volunteered at the Red Cross Blood Donation Center and Hospice of Southern Maine.

Peggy was an elegant but solid lady who traveled the world and had many adventures, including being mugged three times and was once buried in an avalanche at Tuckerman Ravine. Never deterred or intimidated, if she wanted something to happen, it was going to happen. She had an avid imagination, and when her children were young, she would create many mini adventures, making her children’s wildest fantasies come to life, but always with a lesson learned. She advocated common sense and giving it time to overcome any of life’s challenges.

She was a prolific reader, gardener and stylist, often providing “complimentary” advice on balance, pallet and how to stand tall “tits up” to look our best. Some of her fondest memories were summers with family at their home on Nantucket, travelling after college in 1959 via ship to Europe, drinking beers with Kennedys at the White House, numerous visits to Monet’s Gardens in Giverny France, but mostly just being content, or as she would say “just be”.

Peggy is survived by a daughter, Shannon, sons John and Michael; and three grandchildren, Cameron, Madelynn and Vivian.

Arrangements are under the care and direction of Jones, Rich and Barnes Funeral Home in Portland.

Please visit http://www.jonesrichandbarnes.com to leave condolences for the Dinan family and sign Peggy’s online guest book.