Margaret Burns

Margaret “Peggy" "Peg” Burns of Hernando Beach, Florida, and Rineyville, Kentucky, passed away on April 2, at the Oak Hill Hospital in Brooksville, Florida. She was born in 1939, in London, England, to Kathleen (Burns) Wanless and Wilfred Wanless.

Peggy leaves her son Paul Avignon of Jefferson City, Missouri; her daughters, Denise (Michael) Kersey of Rineyville, Kentucky, and Maureen (Brian) Casey of Germantown, M ryland, and Laconia; several grandchildren; and her life companion of 40-years, Mike Stone. Peg was predeceased by her sister, Beryl. 

Though a young child during the blitz in London, Peg always remembered her family home being bombed out. She recalled standing in the kitchen with her father while snowflakes fell through what was once the roof and onto the kitchen floor. The wail of air-raid sirens bothered her for her entire life.

Peg and her family moved from London to Long Island, New York, in 1953 and soon all became citizens of the United States. She and her own young family moved to Concord, in the early 1960s. Peg graduated from Plymouth State College (now Plymouth State University) with degrees in elementary education. She taught first at Holy Trinity Elementary School in Laconia, and later at Gilford Middle High School for 20 years. 

Peggy was a talented artist who produced paintings in watercolor and acrylics. Later, she learned to wire wrap polished stones, turning them into beautiful pendants. She had a love for flowers and all animals — particularly her cats and dogs. Peg created gorgeous flower gardens, both in Gilford and in Rineyville, Kentucky, where she and Mike spent summers for 16 years. Peg and Mike had a loving, active, and often exciting relationship. Together they took post graduate courses, rode motorcycles throughout New England, and made a cross-country trip to California and back to New Hampshire by motorcycle. They became amateur (ham) radio operators in 1992 (Peg, K1VE; Mike, N1VE), upgrading to extra class operators in 1997. Peggy and Mike enjoyed hiking, biking, skiing, canoeing and kayaking, power boating, geocaching, rock, mineral, and fossil collecting, RVing, reading, and writing. Peg and Mike built a pond at the top of a hill on their property in Kentucky. She stocked her pond with tiny goldfish, which grew tremendously over several years. They traveled to many states, collecting rocks, fossils, and minerals and also looking for geocaches. In 1998 they visited Peg’s family in England and spent two weeks in England, Wales, and Scotland, often finding rocks and minerals for their collection. Peg also made several trips to England with her daughters to visit their British family. 

Peggy was beautiful, thoughtful, kind, and compassionate, and will be missed by her family, friends, associates, and by her 40-year companion, Mike Stone. 

A private family service will be held in Rineyville, Kentucky.