Margaret Fallon Wheeler

SCARBOROUGH – Margaret Fallon Wheeler, 80, died on June 9, 2025 in Scarborough, Maine, from complications of Alzheimer’s that never could claim her native kindness and gratitude.

Meg was the younger of two daughters born to William G. and Alice M. Fallon of Grafton, Mass. She spent her early childhood in Grafton under the watchful eye of her big sister Beth, who she adored, before embarking on her first and greatest adventure. At age 6, she and her family boarded a ship for Johannesburg, South Africa, where her father would spend four years managing a production facility for Norton Company of Worcester, Mass. Meg’s time there kindled a lifelong love of Africa and she would make several return trips to marvel at its wonders.

Meg graduated in 1962 from the Walnut Hill School in Natick, Mass., where she would cement the first of many relationships with the institutions that she loved and supported throughout her life. Meg would go on to serve as the Chair of the Board of Trustees at Walnut Hill and in 1993 was presented the Alumni Distinguished Service Award “in recognition of continuous support and significant service to Walnut Hill.” Meg loved the arts, particularly music, and as a Trustee she delighted in attending performances at what is now the Walnut Hill School for the Arts.

Another institution close to Meg’s heart was her alma mater Colby College. She graduated in 1966 and served as her Class Correspondent for decades. She was the organizer of her 50th Class Reunion and was the recipient of the Colby Brick Award, presented to members of the Colby family “who have demonstrated outstanding loyalty to the College through consistent and dedicated service on its behalf.”

Not long after enrolling in Clark University to earn her teaching certificate, Meg met another would-be teacher with a funny name. William “Whizzer” Wheeler and Meg married in 1967, launching a partnership that produced two children, three Golden Retrievers, four grandchildren and an assortment of cats, all of whom Meg loved unconditionally.

With her young family well settled in Holden, Mass., life changed when they unexpectedly inherited an 1817 farmhouse in Waterford, Maine. The house, known as Rydal Mount, was overgrown, uninsulated and sliding off its foundation, but Meg and Whizzer set out on a 20-year mission to restore the historic family home. When they eventually retired there in 1996, Rydal Mount had been transformed into a picture-perfect postcard of New England.

Meg was in her glory at Rydal Mount, where her creativity and boundless energy blossomed. She was an accomplished landscape gardener who could recite genus and species of everything inside the stone walls and beyond them. Her floral arrangements graced the tables at Waterford’s Community Breakfast, where she threw on an apron and waited tables after delivering the flowers. The image of her at twilight, hauling 20 pounds of hose back from the picking garden behind the white barn is etched in the minds of us lazy smoothers on the porch. Her greatest horticultural achievement, however, occurred on August 8, 1998, when she forced the white Phlox to bloom in the formal garden where her daughter Sarah was married.

Meg found joy in the music and fellowship of the Waterford Congregational Church. She was a dedicated member of the church choir, Chair of the Stewardship Committee and served in numerous leadership positions. Meg knew the value of time better than most and was always ready to lend hers to the church. More than anything, though, Meg found joy in firing the imaginations of her four grandchildren, to whom Rydal Mount was a magical place.

Gage, Emma, Andrew and Margaret were dear to Meg and she treasured them. They will feel her loss especially, but the prolific correspondence she kept with all of them has left a trove of letters, cards and mixed tapes (literally) to remember her by.

The Wheeler, Chingos and Mason families are grateful for the caring staff at Piper Shores in Scarborough, where Meg spent her final years. They are on the front lines of dementia care yet have the courage to forge deep bonds with the people in their care.

The families are also indebted to the kind care and counsel of Compassus Hospice. Thank you, Kristen!

Meg is survived by her sister and best friend Beth Fallon Mason of Scarborough, her brother-in-law and fellow road warrior Chip Mason; her son Seth Wheeler and daughter-in-law, Beatrice Wheeler of Meredith, NH; her daughter Sarah Chingos and son-in-law, Peter Chingos of Brunswick; and her four grandchildren: Gage Wheeler, Emma Wheeler, Andrew Chingos and Margaret Chingos.

The family is planning a memorial service at the Waterford Congregational Church in August, when the Phlox are in bloom.

Memorial donations in Meg’s name may be made to: Waterford Congregational Church

15 Plummer Hill Rd

PO Box 59

Waterford, ME 04088

Or donate online at: https://www.wccucc.com/donate

In lieu of flowers, Meg would suggest you send a strongly worded letter

to the Fenway

Sports Group bemoaning the loss of another season for her beloved Red Sox.

Alternatively, she would recommend treating yourself to a Saturday night of racing at Oxford Plains Speedway.