Margaret Helen Shortridge was born in New York City’s upper West side on August 18th, 1927 to Margaret and Frank Kasko. She spent her first decade of life in Manhattan and spent her summers in Meriden, CT as part of a program for city kids to experience the country. She maintained her relationship with her “summer parents’ until they passed in the 1980s. Peggy’s family moved to Kenvil where she attended Roxbury High school for the duration of WWII (1942 – 1945). It was while in high school she became a member of the Dover Little Theater where she performed until the early 2000s. After the war, she married and raised two sons in Mine Hill. She would cook Hungarian food, can fruits and vegetables and make a magnificent Eldeberry jam. She loved the soap opera, As The World Turns and had been a viewer since 1956 in the early days when soap operas were only 15 minutes long. In the early 1960s, Peggy became an Avon Lady serving the Mine Hill and Kenvil areas. She loved it. In 1967, she began a career as an oral surgery dental assistant that lasted for 32 years. In the mid 1980s, she moved to Dover where she continued to sell Avon and act in DLT productions. She was an avid Mets fan. Preceded in death by her brother James, Peggy passed away peacefully on February 21st in her 95th year.
She is survived by her sons, William and Robert, daughters-in-law, Holly and Patricia, grandchildren, Justin, Buck, Emerson and August and nieces and nephew, Patty, Sandy, David and Diane.
Friends and relatives may visit at the Davis and Hepplewhite Funeral Home,96 Main St., Succasunna, NJ 973-584-7264 (davishepplewhitefh.com) on Friday (February 25th) from 5 – 7 pm. A graveside service will be held on Saturday, 11 am, at the Locust Hill Cemetery Mausoleum, in Dover.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her name to the Hospice of New Jersey, 400 Broadacres Drive, Bloomfield, NJ 07003.