Margaret Royce Wenning

With a keen eye and a quiet patience, Margaret found profound beauty in the natural world. Whether identifying native birds in the morning mist or observing the seasonal changes in the local woodlands, she found endless inspiration in the outdoors.

Just 4 days shy of her 98th birthday, Margaret Royce Wenning of Madison Heights, Virginia passed away peacefully in her home with family around her.

Margaret (or Midge as family and close friends called her), was raised in the shadow of Mt. Monadnock in Jaffrey, New Hampshire, by her father, Harold C. Royce and mother, Mary Smyth Royce. She was the oldest of one sister and four brothers. She attended Conant High School and graduated in 1949 from Chamberlain School of Retailing in Boston, Massachusetts. In the early 1950s, the desire to travel lured her to become a stewardess for Eastern Airlines, flying routes from New York, Miami and Puerto Rico. Twenty years later she would pull on her past education in retail to work for The Hecht Co and Thalhimers Department Stores.

In 1953, Margaret married James O. Wenning, a US Navy aviator, and spent the next 2 1/2 decades raising a family and moving wherever the Navy sent them. In 1978, after retiring from the Navy, they settled on Lakevale Farm in Madison Heights, Virginia, where Margaret spent the rest of her life.

She loved the outdoors… bird watching, hiking, gardening, swimming, gemstone hunting… and had many hobbies: painting, quilting, puzzling… just to name a few! She also had a love for animals, especially dogs. She adopted many a stray canine that would find her. There must have been a sign in the woods around Lakevale Farm for all stray dogs that said “this way to a loving and safe place”!

Margaret is survived by her four children; Janice Wenning, James O Wenning Jr. (Pam), Nancy Wenning, and Paul H. Wenning (Tamara), her grandchildren, Jared K. Simmons (Amanda), Tyler F. Simmons (Lauren), Alec J. Wenning and W. Owen Wenning, her great-grandson Joseph D. Simmons, two sisters-in-law, Betty C. Royce and Ann L. Royce, and many nieces and nephews.

In addition to her parents, Margaret is preceded in death by her husband James O. Wenning, sister Marie Royce Ruffle, brothers and wives Henry W. Royce (Betty-Jo), Charles H. Royce, Kent M. Royce and William C. Royce (Judy), her brother-in-law Robert A. Wenning (Lorrie) and her son-in-law Bradford J. Stewart.

To honor Margaret’s wishes, there will not be a public memorial service. The family will have a private gathering at a later date.

In lieu of flowers if you wish to honor Margaret you are invited to contribute to either of the following organizations she supported: The Humane Society of Amherst County https://amherstanimalshelter.org/make-a-donation or to the Blue Ridge PBS https://www.blueridgepbs.org