Marjorie "Peggy Joan" Metzner

MIDDLETON/MADISON.  Marjorie June (a.k.a. Peggy Joan) Metzner, age 101, passed away peacefully on July 19, 2020 at Agrace Hospice in Fitchburg after a short illness.  She was a longtime resident of Madison but for the last eighteen years had resided at Attic Angels Place in Middleton.  She was born in Chicago on December 21, 1918, to Margit Dorthea Stokes Hausse and Richard Hugo Hausse (Hausske).  She was preceded in death by her husband of 64 years, Atty. Carroll Edwin Metzner in 2008, and her son, Bruce Carroll Stokes Metzner in 1987.  She is survived by her daughter, Margot Andrea Metzner (Dr. Mark Alan Mandelkern) and her grandchildren, India Aurora, Benjamin Tate, and Seth Tyler Bruce Mandelkern.

Peggy grew up in Oak Park, Illinois, where she was on the high school 4-year honor roll.  She won a scholarship to Rockford College which she attended for two years before transferring to Northwestern University.  It was there she met her future husband.  She earned a B.S. in Education and a M.A. in Spanish.  She taught high school in Arlington Heights and Niles Township High School in Illinois, West High School in Madison, and the University of Wisconsin extension division.

She was a resident of Nakoma for 52 years, active in many groups including the Nakoma League.  She was a past president of Republican Women of Dane County and Lawyers’ Wives of Dane County.  She was a past member of the Madison Civic Club, the Madison Club, and the Nakoma Golf Club.  She was a longtime member of the University League where she had many lifelong friends.  She was also a longtime member of Madison Friends of International Students where she and her husband entertained many wonderful students from all over the world.  Four of them were especially close:  Jenny and David Pan, formerly from Taiwan and now in Rochester, New York, and Yong Zhou and Jian Hua Yu, formerly from China and now living in Michigan.  She was a member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Wisconsin Historical Society, the Republican National Committee, the Republican Party of Dane County, the Humane Society of the United States, and numerous other groups.  At the time of the 2016 election, she became a member of the Democratic Party and proudly voted for whom she hoped would be the first woman president.  She was a strong believer in women’s rights and an advocate for stricter gun control, writing many letters to elected officials on that issue.

Her interests were many, especially politics, genealogy, reading, antiques, bridge, and travel.  She made 22 trips to Europe, plus to many other places, including around the world on the French Concorde.  On that trip she was invited to sit in the cockpit with the captain as he prepared to land in New Delhi, India.  She enjoyed three trips to Norway and five to Germany to study her genealogy roots.  Her two trips to China caused her to believe that China was the most fascinating country in the world.  She fondly recalled enjoying Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, Oktoberfest in Munich, Syttende Mai in Oslo, flying over the Iguassu Falls in a helicopter, going down into King Tut’s tomb in Egypt, observing the wildlife during three visits to Kenya, and watching the moonlight shining down on the Acropolis in Athens.  She traveled to many unusual islands, among them Bali, Cuba, Tahiti, Fiji, St. Lucia, Martinique, Crete, and Madagascar.

She enjoyed meeting many prominent people, including Presidents Nixon, Reagan, and George H.W. Bush.  Other celebrities she met were Shimon Peres, Bob Dole, Ginger Rogers, Walter Matthau, Donna Reed, Alice Roosevelt Longworth, Barry Goldwater, Nelson Rockefeller, Norman Thomas, Edward Teller, Richard Leakey, Pat Nixon, Tricia and Julie Nixon, Barbara Bush, Paul Ryan, Spiro Agnew, and Governors Warren Knowles, Tommy Thompson, and Scott Walker.  She laughed about being kissed by a President (Richard Nixon), a U.S. Senator (Everett Dirksen of Illinois), and a Governor (Tommy Thompson).  She was a guest at a White House reception and at dinner in the Governor’s Mansion.

She was a founding member of Heritage Congregational Church, 3201 Prairie Road, Madison, Wisconsin 53719.  Burial will be in Forest Hill Cemetery. No service will be held at this time due to the covid-19 pandemic.  Memorials may be made to the church or to St. Jude Children’s Research Center, Memphis, Tennessee.