Margaret "Peggy" Nielsen (Nielsen) Tubman

Margaret “Peggy” Nielsen Tubman, passed away on Tuesday September 5, 2017 at the age of 99. She was born on May 26, 1918 in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of the late Dr. Carl Nielsen and Adelaide Banta Nielsen.

Peggy made her home in Chicago, Illinois until she was five years old, at which time her family moved to Lake Bluff, Illinois where her father was employed at Abbott Laboratories.

Peggy spent her whole childhood in Lake Bluff, Illinois where she attended the Lake Bluff Elementary School and from there she went to Perry Hall in Lake Forest, Illinois. She was a member of the Girl Scouts of America in her younger years. During her intermediate years, she studied ballet, culminating in her training under Ivan Novikoff, a ballet master of the Metropolitan Opera Ballet in Chicago. She graduated there in 1935. She then went on to Northwestern University where she graduated in 1939 with a Bachelor of Science degree.  During her collegiate years she was a member of the Delta Gamma National Sorority. While in college she was very active in sports, music, and dancing.

On June 28, 1941 she married Granville Lloyd Tubman, Jr. son of Granville Lloyd Tubman Sr. and Naomi Willis Tubman. They celebrated 66 years of marriage before his passing on April 7, 2008.  They made their home in Cambridge until her husband enlisted in the Navy in the spring of 1942. She then moved to Norfolk, Virginia where her husband was stationed at the supply depot. Mrs. Tubman remained in Norfolk for two years during which time their first child, Terry Lloyd Tubman, was born.

After Mr. Tubman was sent to the Pacific Theater of World War II, Mrs. Tubman and her son moved back to the northern shores of Chicago with her parents. She returned to Cambridge with her family in 1945 when the war was over. Upon their return, the Tubman’s welcomed their second child Susan Tubman Blake in 1947.

Peggy was active in the woman's group of Christ Episcopal Church. She helped found and manage The Bay Country Shop for 17 years from 1971 to 1988. She was a member of the Dorchester County Historical Society, the Dorchester Art Center, the Dorchester General Hospital Auxiliary, Christ Episcopal Church, Saint John’s Chapel, the Grand National Waterfowl Association, Chesapeake Bay Rotary Yacht Squadron, Cambridge Indoor Racquet Club, a founder of Sailwinds Park in Cambridge, a supporter of the Dorchester County YMCA, and a contributor to the James G. Busick Memorial Tennis facility, Glasgow Street, Cambridge, as well as a member of the Cambridge Yacht Club.

Mrs. Tubman loved tennis, gardening, boating, playing bridge, and traveling. Mr. and Mrs. Tubman owned a boat most of their married lives and cruised multiple ports of the Chesapeake Bay and the east coast. They spent their winters in the Bahamas, vacationing with their tennis friends.

Surviving are her one son, Terry Tubman and one daughter, Susan Tubman Blake and her husband Richard M Blake.

She is also survived by four granddaughters, Marybeth Shellabarger and husband Bart,  Christy Blake Waters and husband John, Wendy Collins and husband Bruce, and Melissa D. Tubman Fox. Mrs. Tubman also is survived by six great grandchildren. Shelby Louise Glessner,  Samuel Lloyd Glessner, Sarah Margaret Waters,  Mason Blake Waters,  Alyssa Skye Fox and Brayden Daniel Fox.

Preceding Mrs. Tubman in death other than her parents were two brothers Niels Nielsen and Sherwood “Woody” Nielsen.

A funeral service will be held at Christ Episcopal Church in Cambridge on Friday, September 8, 2017 at 11 am.

There will be a viewing from 5-7 pm, Thursday September 7, 2017 at Thomas’s Funeral Home. The family requests in lieu of flowers Mrs. Tubman requests that memorial donations be made to Christ Episcopal Church, St Johns Chapel or The Cambridge South Dorchester High Schools Tennis Program. Please direct donations to the attention of Mrs. Debbie Walker.

Pallbearers will be Richard Blake, John Waters, Bart Shellabarger,  Bruce Collins, Samuel Glessner and Mason Waters.