The divinity in Margaret Schopflin Gram departed from her 93-year-old body to unite itself with the divine in the universe on Jan. 18, 2023.
Born to Paul and Mary Schopflin in New York City on September 8, 1929, and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, Margaret went on to live her life with grace and distinction. She graduated first in her class from the Barstow School, an independent school for girls in Kansas City; she enrolled in Northwestern University, where she met and married Richard C. Gram. She was a devoted wife and soon mother – to six children by 1960.The young family lived in Wisconsin, Michigan, New York state and Connecticut before settling in Swampscott, Massachusetts, in 1962. The couple remained married until 1978, and Margaret later lived for 34 years in Acton, Massachusetts. Margaret had returned to college, graduating in 1979 with highest honors in the English Department at Northeastern University and earning her bachelor’s degree. She later honed her math and financial skills and worked into her 80s, managing finances for several Boston-area businesses and nonprofits, the latter including the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, the Harvard Radcliffe Institute, and the Thoreau Society.
Margaret was raised Catholic, and, despite her own misgivings with the church, took her six children to Mass each Sunday. In her later years, she became an ardent student of Buddhism, though she remained a close follower of the Franciscan friar and ecumenical teacher Father Richard Rohr.
She is remembered for a first-rate intellect - she imparted a love of reading, thinking and language to her five sons, one daughter and grandchildren. Margaret was an accomplished crafts person as well, with knitting, weaving and the Japanese paper-folding art of origami among her skills. She also had an occasionally ribald sense of humor and a sense of ethics so powerful she seemed at times single-handedly to be making the world a better place. Surprised once to find a smaller piece of luggage inside a suitcase she had bought for a son, she drove again the next day from Swampscott to the Mall of New Hampshire, more than an hour each way, to return the item because she hadn’t paid for it. She was generous with charities, even during lean years, with Globe Santa and Boston’s Pine Street Inn homeless shelter among her favorites. She volunteered to teach reading to adults with literacy challenges.
Her grown children and their spouses include Richard Jr. and Alicia of Stafford Springs, Connecticut; Michael and Ivy of Hopkinton, Massachusetts; Paul and Marian of Pembroke Pines, Florida; David and Catherine of Montpelier, Vermont; John and Dawn of Oceanside, California; and Mary and Daniel Oliver of Clayton, Ohio. Eleven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren complete the picture. Margaret was predeceased by her sister Helen in 1993.
The family is making private arrangements. Memorial donations may be made to Eisenberg Assisted Living, 631 Salisbury Street, Worcester, MA 01609; or the Pine Street Inn, 444 Harrison Ave, Boston MA 02118. O'CONNOR BROTHERS FUNERAL HOME, 592 Park Avenue is assisting the family with arrangements.