KENT—Marguerite (Maggie) Bartlett’s gentle soul passed on Jan. 24, 2025, after an impatient battle with cancer, under the loving care of the good folks from Broad Reach Hospice and her four children.
She was born March 7, 1934, in Hood River, Ore., to the Rev. John and Edna Belle (Polly) Pickells.
A minister’s daughter, she made her childhood way across the country via Steubenville, Ohio, eventually settling in Webster, Mass.
There, among her father’s congregation, she came to know the family of her future husband. The Bartlett and Pickells children grew up together in both Webster and Eastham, Mass., before John Pickells’ calling took him and his family in East Greenwich, RI.
Sadly, Maggie’s mother, Edna, lost her own battle to cancer when she and her children were very young. However, with the support of the East Greenwich community, the Pickells family not only carried on, but thrived in her memory.
Maggie, aka Gyppy, grew up and attended East Greenwich High School where she was an outstanding athlete and good friend to many, with whom she would keep in touch for the next several decades. Notably, she was a member of the OTA (Open to All) Club, a harbinger of the way she would impact communities for the rest of her life.
After high school and before she finished college, Maggie married her good friend and the love of her life, George Bartlett. They married at St. Luke’s in East Greenwich on May 14, 1955, a union that would last 66 years, and live on in memory after George’s passing in 2021.
Soon after, George joined the Air Force and commenced training in San Antonio, Texas, where Maggie joined him. Eventually the two would head to Japan during the Korean conflict, where George was a pilot and Maggie taught English to Japanese children.
At 5’10,” she must have appeared to be a giant to those youngsters. She loved to tell of a time when she and George were preparing to head back to the United States and went shopping for chowder bowls for his mother, Carol. Maggie couldn’t help but take the opportunity to “splurge” by buying a set of dishes for their own table, to which George, the champion of parsimony, reluctantly agreed.
When they went to pay for everything, a child behind the counter, one of Maggie’s students, tugged on her mother’s robe and whispered in her ear. The woman smiled and gifted the whole lot of dishes to them. Those gifts are still on their kitchen shelves to this day.
Shortly after their return to the states, Maggie gave birth to their first child, Polly. This young family of three joined the boarding school life that would be George and Maggie’s combined livelihood for the next 32 years.
First, they worked and lived at The Pomfret School in Pomfret, Conn., where children Peter and Caroline were born. Then, George’s teaching career led them to South Kent School for nearly three decades, where Benjamin soon joined the family and where George eventually became headmaster.
Maggie, in addition to serving as surrogate mother to countless young men and eventually young women, took on just about every role, formal and informal, that she felt would help build a sense of community. She instinctively responded to the emotional needs of students who were not only figuring themselves out but also navigating the demands of school and life away from home.
She was an integral part of the nearby Kent community, teaching nursery school and contributing to every major festivity and bazaar conceived by the residents.
But it was in “retirement” in 1989 that Maggie’s strength of spirit emerged and her natural talents were validated. Maggie pursued her calling as a volunteer and pioneer with the Provincetown Aids Support Group.
Again, she found herself serving as a surrogate mother, this time to those afflicted by a dreaded and misunderstood disease at a time when young men and women were often abandoned by family and friends.
Having lost her mother and two of her three siblings tragically early in their lives, and later her father, Maggie’s work with PASG evolved into a commitment to all kinds of hospice care. She learned Reiki so that she could bring comfort to those in pain as they transitioned.
She was surprised and honored to receive the PASG Community Service Award in 1999.
At this time, she also became a legend on the outer Cape as a sponsor and faithful Friend of Bill, further broadening her impact on her community.
It is impossible to think about Maggie without thinking about family. Whether you were one of the scores of cousins tumbling over the bluff at the house off of Ocean View Drive, a third former eating popcorn in her living room, piled into a van heading from P-Town to Boston for treatment, or one of the “previous” club setting up for an early morning meeting—she fostered family.
You were particularly blessed to be one of her grandchildren. Maggie was not one to cover her furniture in plastic when younger family members arrived; rather she created “wonder nooks” in her cozy home, simple, inviting play spaces, indoors and out, where time would be suspended, and love would grow in great supply.
Holidays at the house were magical with seasonal decorations, pleasantly enhanced by the smells and tastes of delicious foods. Her many families meant everything to her.
The words of a good friend sum up Maggie’s impact on the worlds of so many over the years: “For me she embodies all the qualities I most admire: Warmth, kindness, compassion, generosity, tolerance, imagination, good humor and strength. She is that rare individual who accepts people as she finds them…”
Maggie was a reluctant matriarch, predeceased by her brother, John; sisters, Betsy and Sally, and her beloved George, as well as by many of her best friends. But her spirit lives in her many surviving friends, including her children Polly, Peter and Colleen, Caroline, Ben and Betsy, and her grandchildren (by family), Woody, Marguerite (Maizie), John and George, Ana, Phoebe and Emma.
A celebration of life will be held at a date to be announced. In lieu of flowers, help keep her spirit alive by being kind to your neighbors. Donations may be made to Aids Support Group of Cape Cod, PO Box 1522, Provincetown, MA 02657.
