Margaret Folsom May

May 15, 1928 - February 3, 2025

"Oh, for the freedom now to get on a bike and ride ten miles into the country to go fishing," Margaret wrote in her memoirs. She loved growing up with that freedom in Julesburg, Colorado, a prairie town. Some of her first memories were of her dad killing a rattlesnake on the golf course and of President Roosevelt speaking at the train station. Her horizons broadened in the seventh grade when her family moved to Boston for a year. She embraced the change and enjoyed being asked often if she knew any cowboys.

She brought a spirit of adventure when she moved to Southern California, riding her bike year-round. She wrote, "Sometimes to get the attention of the boys, we would pick oranges from a tree as we were riding by and throw them at a boy or two. Can you imagine that in Boston?"

Her world travel began in 1946 when the Oneonta Church youth group took a bicycling trip in Cornwall and toured post war Europe. It was pivotal in forming her maturing world view. Later she wrote of the difference between a pilgrim and a tourist.

At Colorado College she met her future husband, Dolf. There followed years of child rearing and moving as Dolf advanced in his career, landing in Berkeley in 1965. She taught Special Education at the Richmond School District for 25 years, continuing to travel widely in summertime. She swam, studied yoga, and enjoyed book groups, walking groups, and writing groups. She and Dolf retired to Santa Barbara where they were active and very happy.

She was predeceased by Dolf, her husband of 65 years, and is survived by her four children, six grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Los Angeles Times, March 3, 2025