Margaret (« Peggy ») Fenwick Nicholl, née Harding, died at Fredericton, New Brunswick on August 14, 2018 following complications resulting from a fractured hip. Predeceased by her husband of nearly 60 years, Dr. Christopher I.H. Nicholl, and by her brother Bill, she leaves to mourn her five children Lucy (Ron), Sarah, Tina, Kate and John (Dima) and eight grandchildren Emily, Lucas, Keitha, Emma, Thomas, Pippa, Charlotte and Christopher, as well as her sister Mary Keyser (Jim). The eldest daughter of Dr. William D. Harding and Annie (Nan) Gladys Harding, née Hodge, Peggy was born in Toronto on February 24, 1926 and spent her early years in Port Credit, Ontario. She graduated with a B.A. from Queens in 1947, having met her future husband at the Science 44 Coop, according to family legend while he was washing dishes and she was mopping the floor. After many solo adventures, including work with the Hamilton Children’s’ Aid Society and a cycling tour of Scotland on a one speed bike, Peggy married Chris in May 1951 and returned with him to England while he finished his post-doc at Cambridge. Back in Canada in 1954 with a baby (John) in tow, Peggy and Chris lived briefly in Ottawa, and then in a great leap of faith (for two Canadian anglophones whose French was correct but less than fluent) moved in 1955 to Quebec City, where Chris joined the new Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at Laval. By this point Kate had joined the family, and Tina quickly followed, arriving in Charny because at the time the family was living on the south shore in Breakeyville. Another move to our first house in Sillery followed in 1958, and Sarah and Lucy were born at appropriate intervals at Jeffrey Hale Hospital in Quebec City. Peggy and Chris had discovered, or been discovered by, the congregation of the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, and there followed many happy years of choir practices, choir parties, bell ringing and community at the Cathedral, and lasting friendships. Peggy was a devoted mother in a manner which is now out of fashion, and she made it her business to feed, clothe, teach and discipline her kids while Chris pursued his academic career and brought home the bacon. Idyllic summers at a house in Charlevoix (Les Éboulements) and at Camp Kennebec followed winters of cross country skiing and snow fort building, and while the kids were always a handful, they now recognize how lucky they were to be her children there in that time. John, Kate and Tina went off to school in the late 60’s and early 70’s. Chris was appointed Principal of Bishop’s University in 1975 and Peggy and Chris moved to Lennoxville with Sarah and Lucy, who were also soon gone. Peggy took over the role of faculty hostess with aplomb, and there were further happy years as members of the Bishop’s community, before they retired to Moulton Hill in 1986. Following family, they moved again to Gloucester near Ottawa in 1995, and for 15 years were a magnet for their children and grandchildren and conducted regular walking expeditions to England and France, including Offa’s Dyke and Hadrian’s Wall. More changes led to a move to Fredericton in 2010, and Peggy was again solo following Chris’ death in 2011. She was still Peggy, however, and with a lot of support from Kate and many visits from her other children and grandchildren she was indomitable and close to her family until the end.

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