Margaret Nelson

SOUTH PORTLAND – Margaret Nelson, 100, of South Portland, passed peacefully on Feb. 25, 2025, after a century of kindness, generosity, and independence.

Margaret was born in South Portland on Nov. 16, 1924, to George and Esther Jordan. She graduated from South Portland High School in the class of 1943.

As a young woman, she developed her love for athletics and participated in as many sports as the school would allow. She was a member of the basketball team, the volleyball team, and the softball team. Margaret wasn’t just interested in sports – she excelled at them. While playing third base for South Portland, Margaret was the first leg of a legendary triple play that secured victory in a close match against a rival school.

Her high school years were also when she fostered her great spirit of independence. On some warm nights, she’d sneak out of her parents’ home and head to Willard Beach, perhaps her favorite place in the world. Margaret spent those nights under the stars teaching herself how to dive from the rocks into the ocean below.

After graduating, Margaret took the money she made serving at a lodge on Cobbosseecontee Lake and paid for six months of tuition at New England College of Business. Margaret rejoined the workforce and aided the war effort as a welder at the shipyard in South Portland. When the war concluded, Margaret took up work as a switchboard operator for New England Telephone & Telegraph.

Her young adult years were spent in the Portland area, where she met her husband Raymond “Dick” Nelson. It should not come as a surprise that a woman with a deep love of the sea and seafood (she was sometimes known as “The Queen of Lobster Consumption”) would marry a fisherman. Margaret and Dick established a home on Providence Avenue in South Portland and welcomed two daughters into the world, Vicki and Cindy.

Motherhood didn’t keep Margaret away from sports, though, as she became a tennis player and a cross-country skier in adulthood. Even later in life, she learned candlepin bowling and won championships at The Big 20. She learned to golf at 60 and earned two holes-in-one in her name at the South Portland Municipal Course.

In her later years, and after the passing of her husband, she moved into her daughter Cindy’s house in a separate in-law apartment. She spent her last two decades living independently in that apartment and close to family. She found joy and meaning in contributing as much as she could to those she loved. It was not an uncommon event to see Margaret emerge from her apartment with a fresh-baked pie or two as a surprise dessert for the family dinner. In fact, on the day of her passing, her fridge contained one more pie waiting to be shared.

Margaret leaves behind her daughters (and their spouses), Cindy (John) Gleason and Vicki (Tim) Lemieux; her niece, and partner in crime at local casinos, Ann Palmer; her grandchildren, Johnny, Danica, and Joe Gleason; and fond memories in the minds and hearts of all the lives she was a part of.

Visitation will be held on March 7 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Hobbs Funeral Home, 230 Cottage Rd., South Portland, followed by a reception from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m.

Condolences may be expressed online at http://www.hobbsfuneralhome.com