Margaret B. Tyler, American history buff
Margaret Beulah Knochel Tyler of Princess Anne, Md., passed away Sunday, Aug. 5, 2012, at Renaissance Nursing Home in Millsboro. She was the widow of Oliver Vernon Tyler, who died in 1984.
Margaret was born July 19, 1916, in Baltimore, Md., the eldest daughter of the late Ulysses S. and Beulah Priscilla (Turner) Knochel. She graduated from Eastern High School in Baltimore in 1933, where she excelled in French and was an avid fencer and archer. She married Oliver Tyler in 1939. His career as an aeronautical engineer, and later as an executive for the Glenn L. Martin Company and The Boeing Company, took them from Baltimore to Omaha, Denver, Philadelphia and Wichita before they settled in Princess Anne. She was employed by the Baltimore Gas & Electric Company from 1946-71 and later the Somerset County MAC Program.
Margaret was a gifted gourmet cook, especially of French cuisine, and loved needlework. She was an aficionado of historic homes and colonial culture who volunteered at Teackle Mansion for more than two decades, and also served as an officer of Olde Princess Anne Days. She was keenly interested in American history and particularly the life and works of Thomas Jefferson. As he once wrote, “I have observed that at whatever age, or in whatever form we have known a person of old, so we believe him to continue indefinitely, unchanged by time.” And so her family and friends will remember her unflagging kindness, love, and the passionate interests she shared and kindled in those around her.
She is survived by Vernon Tyler of Bel Air, Md.; grandchildren Blair Tyler and wife Michelle, Alexandra Tyler, Kelly Lewis and husband Nicholas, Christopher Servoy, Joshua Harmon, Jacqueline Shine, and Benjamin Shine; and great-grandchildren Chad, Brooke and Paige Tyler; and Honor Lewis. She is also survived by her sisters, Kathryn Wise and husband Howard, and Mildred Morton; niece Carol Slizys and nephews Thomas Morton, Edward S. Knochel, Jeffrey Wise, Todd Wise, and Kent Wise. She was predeceased by her daughter, Suzanne Tyler Shine in 2007; and her brother, Edward Stanley Knochel in 1990.
Arrangements are in the care of Melson Funeral Services of Millsboro. A celebration of Margaret’s life is planned for Saturday, Oct. 13, in Princess Anne. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in Margaret’s name to Somerset County Historical Society, PO Box 181, Princess Anne, MD 21853.
