To know her was to love her
December 16, 1924 – August 1, 2020
Margaret Mary Fallon died quietly in her sleep on August 1 in Burlington Vermont, where she spent her last months in the loving care of her daughter and son-in-law, Pat and Dan Quinlan. She was 95.
Peg, as she was known to family and friends, was born in Manhattan on December 16, 1924, to Richard and Catherine (née Cussen) Barry, who had met in New York City after emigrating from Ireland. She grew up in the city with her sisters Cathleen and Ellen and her brothers Richard and Thomas. She graduated from Manhattan's Cathedral High School before attending secretarial school.
While working in the Manhattan home office of Grace Lines, a cargo and passenger steamship company, she met William Francis Fallon, a Navy veteran. They married in 1947 and were together for 45 years. Peg and Bill lived in New York and Silver Spring, Maryland, until 1955, when they moved to Metuchen, where they raised five children. Peg was active in St. Francis Church in Metuchen, in the St. Francis School PTA, and in the Cub Scouts and other volunteer work.
Peg and Bill moved to Jamesburg in 1984, following Bill's retirement. There Peg was joined by her sister-in-law, Eleanor (Edwin) Knobloch, who was a daily companion for many years. Peg and Bill were world travelers. For their 25th anniversary, their children sent them to Ireland, where they saw the sights and where Peg met for the first time members of her extended family. They sailed to Africa and Australia on Farrell Lines, where their eldest son, Bill, was an executive.
In the decades after her husband passed away in 1992, Peg stayed active in volunteering and in the lives of her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. She enjoyed years of happiness with close family friend Peter Cappio, also widowed; Peter and his wife Edna had been Peg and Bill's closest friends for decades. In 2013, Peg moved to Meadow Lakes in Hightstown, where residents and staff knew her as radiantly smiling, impeccably dressed, and strikingly beautiful, with a brilliantly white pixie cut. In 2014, Peg's entire extended family gathered at Meadow Lakes to celebrate her 90th birthday.
Keenly intelligent, Peg kept her mind sharp with The New York Times crossword, card games (that she liked to win!), and word and number puzzles. She enjoyed crafts and knitted beautiful sweaters for her family. To know her was to love her. Always cheerful, kind, considerate, quick-witted, with a sparkle in her eye and a lively sense of humor, she drew people to her. She would strike up a conversation with anyone around her. She never had a bad word to say about others, and she had the gift of contentment. Her resilience and spirit, even in the last weeks and days of her life, were an inspiration.
She was predeceased by her sister Cathleen Barry; her brothers, Tom and Dick Barry; her son, William, Jr., who lost his life at the World Trade Center on 9/11; her daughters-in-law: Suzann Braga Fallon, Patty Leahy Fallon, and Nancy Hungarland Fallon; and her nephew Richard Barry.
She left behind to mourn her passing and celebrate her life: her sister Ellen Barry; her sons Donald, Peter, and Stephen (Joan Wulff) Fallon; her daughter Patricia (Daniel) Quinlan; her daughter-in-law Brenda Carter Fallon of Rocky Hill; eight nieces and nephews; 11 grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.
Due to present gathering restrictions, a private family funeral Mass will be celebrated with burial following at Holy Cross Burial Park in Jamesburg. A larger memorial gathering will be planned for the future. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a donation in Peg's name to UVM (University of Vermont) Home Health & Hospice, which assisted in providing loving and compassionate care during her final weeks.
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