Margaret Anne (Ohrt) Packard 1927 – 2022 WATERVILLE – Margaret Anne Packard, née Ohrt, died at her home in Waterville on August 26, 2022. Born in Tulsa, Okla. on Oct. 8, 1927 to parents John Benno Ohrt and Margaret Louise Cowles, Peggy, as she was nicknamed, was the youngest of her siblings, John, Dorothy and Henry. During her childhood Margaret moved multiple times while the family followed her father’s job in the oil business. Besides Tulsa, her youth found her living in San Antonio; Houston; Berlin, Germany; Mexico City; New Orleans; Ann Arbor and Los Angeles. After her parents’ remarriages, she traveled between Houston and Livermore Falls, Maine. As a result, Margaret experienced a great variety of adventures and educational settings that fueled numerous later stories. She was a terrific storyteller. In the 1940s while living in Brunswick, Maine she met her future husband, Christopher Moore Packard. In 1950, they married in Quebec City and returned to Brunswick where Chris completed his studies at Bowdoin College. Margaret worked at the Walker Art Museum where she set up a crib for their infant daughter, Margaret Bellamy, in the lobby. A son, Christopher Moore, followed and by that time the family had moved to the Packard farmhouse in the Pennellville neighborhood of Brunswick. Margaret was a homemaker while her children were young and then worked at Senter’s department store in Brunswick until her retirement. Other jobs included years of editing her husband’s weekly nature columns for the local paper and supporting Audubon events. Tuesday evening path clearing groups at the new Mast Landing Sanctuary in Freeport were fueled in part by her potato salad and pies. Not many cooks could rival her pies. Margaret was an avid reader and supporter of libraries. She enjoyed poetry, history, biography, and always a good mystery. She never missed Masterpiece Theater and loved opera. A lasting legacy Margaret made was to ensure the land in Pennellville would remain conserved in memory of her husband, Christopher. Having grown up there, he had spent a lifetime observing and writing about the flora and fauna he experienced. Margaret was predeceased by her parents, siblings and husband. She is survived by her daughter, Margaret (Peggy) Menchen of Waterville and son, Christopher (Kit) Packard of Georgetown and their spouses, Gary and Jane; grandchildren Christopher Menchen of Benton, Margaret (Sadie) Menchen of Los Angeles and their spouses, Lacy and Megan, and Kylie Packard of Tampa and her fiance Gregory Austin; and great-grandchildren Sara, Benjamin and Matthew Menchen of Benton. Her family wishes to thank Maine General Hospice nurses and aids and her cadre of caregivers for excellent care and companionship during the last months of her life. Upon her wishes, there will be no memorial service and her family will gather at a later date. Those who wish to honor Margaret may do so by supporting a local conservation group, animal shelter, or library, or by enjoying an opera

 

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