Margaret “Peggy” Baer, age 95 of Wayne, passed away peacefully at home on Tuesday, November 7, 2017.

Margaret was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on May 13, 1922. Her parents, Andrew and Jennifer Boyd had moved there from their homes on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada, which Margaret visited every summer as a child. She deeply loved her Nova Scotian heritage and throughout her life, she continued returning to the Island to visit family and friends, and enjoy her beloved Cape Breton fiddle music.

Margaret, the oldest of four children, soon moved with her family from Boston to the Bronx in New York City, where her father worked construction on the George Washington Bridge. In 1931, at age 9, together with her family, she attended the bridge’s ceremonial opening, an event presided over by then New York Governor, Franklin D. Roosevelt. Growing up in the Bronx, Margaret attended high school at Saint Nicholas of Tolentine on Fordham Road, where she graduated in 1940.

In 1946, she married William E. Baer, also of the Bronx, who was recently returned from service in the Pacific Theatre during World War II. Together with their three children, the family lived primarily in the Bronx until moving to Packanack Lake in Wayne, New Jersey, in 1960. While raising her three children in Packanack, Margaret initiated her life-long love of community theater, participating with the “Packanack Players” for many years as an actress, dancer, writer and director. In 1976, she received the Best Actress Award in a state-wide drama festival in Atlantic City for her performance in Something Unspoken by Tennessee Williams.

In 1970, she began working for the United States Post Office. Starting at the entry level, she quickly rose through the ranks, eventually becoming Director of Finance for the Paterson postal region, overseeing the finances of nearly a hundred post offices. She retired in 1990 as the Postmaster of Fair Lawn, New Jersey.

Margaret touched countless lives with her kindness, and was loved by everyone who knew her. She was predeceased by her husband, William E. Baer, her brother Andrew Boyd and her sister Evelyn Stuart. She is survived by her three children: Robert Baer of Wayne, New Jersey; William Baer of Wayne, New Jersey; and Richard Baer of Tenafly, New Jersey; as well as her daughter-in-law, Foon Wu-Baer of Tenafly, New Jersey; and three grandchildren, Margaret Baer of Silver Springs, Maryland; William Baer, III, of Vienna, Ohio; and Jennifer Baer of Tenafly, New Jersey. She is also survived by her brother, Jack Boyd, and her sister-in-law, Margaret Boyd, of Syracuse, New York, and her sister-in-law, Catherine Boyd of Goshen, New York, as well as fifteen nephews and nieces.