Margaret "Peggy" Wireman

Madison – Margaret “Peggy” Wireman

September 22, 1936 to June 21, 2022

“Her hair is brown, her eyes are blue.  I think we’ll call her Peggy Lou.” Was the poem her father wrote when Peggy Wireman (nee Blumberg) was born in 1936 to Margaret and Raoul Blumberg in the Washington, DC area.  She was a child of the depression and World War II.  Peggy graduated from Chevy Chase High School, received her Bachelor’s degree from the College of Wooster (with a year abroad at the London School of Economics), her Master’s Degree from the University of Chicago and University Missouri before returning to her Washington, DC roots to work in community development at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, setting up new communities and helping people in underserved areas.  She lived in Bali, Indonesia for several months during a 6-month trip to Asia after getting her Phd. from American University.  In 1987 Peggy taught a course at University of Wisconsin in Madison and loved the area so much that she stayed there the rest of her life.  After teaching the course Peggy was a consultant in community development and the complexities of setting up museums.  She is the author of several books including Urban Neighborhoods, Networks, and Families: New Forms for Old Values; Connecting the Dots: Government, Community and Family; Partnerships for Prosperity: Museums and Economic Development; Alice in Bushland: Fact and Fantasy in the Bush Administration; the Facebook page Alice Needs Health Care: Funny but Factual and hosted a radio program/podcast.  Peggy lectured on community development in Asia, Europe and across the United States.  She never “retired” but kept active in multiple community causes, letter writing campaigns and writing letters to the editor in various publications.  She was always active, putting out letters until she passed.

An avid photographer, Peggy’s pictures have been in several shows in the Madison, WI area.  She also loved the outdoors, hiking, camping, and skiing, the latter of which she did well into her 70’s!  Flowers were her joy in later years, she planted a colorful display for the enjoyment of herself and others in her condo back yard.  She also loved singing with the Madison Symphony Chorus.

Always a world traveler, Peggy loved to visit her far flung family.  She visited her sister in California; her cousins in Florida and Maryland, nieces in Colorado and California and nephews in Texas and Hawaii.  She is survived by her sister, Elizabeth Hubbarth, two nieces, Becky Hubbarth and Roberta Hubbarth Were; two nephews, Rusty Hubbarth and Richard Hubbarth; two great nieces and two great nephews, a great grand niece and great grand nephew and hundreds of friends. Peggy passed comfortably surrounded by loving friends.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the ACLU; Shalom Mountain Retreat Center; Doctors without Borders; Thee Reverend Gee Center for Black Excellence.

Celebration of Peggy’s life will be held on Sunday, June 26, 2022, from 12:00 to 2:30 p.m. at Cress Funeral Home, 3610 Speedway Rd., Madison, WI. 53705.  She will be laid to rest at the Natural Path’s Sanctuary in Verona.

Cress Funeral Service

3610 Speedway Rd.

Madison, WI 53705

608-238-3434