Margaret R. Hay

Margaret R. Hay 

Delmar, NY – Margaret R. Hay, 99, passed away peacefully on Thursday, May 2, 2024. A longtime resident of Delmar, she was active in volunteer organizations including Delmar Progress Club and Friends of Five Rivers Environmental Education Center.

Born in Fulton, NY, Margaret Reynolds earned a BA and MA from the State Teachers College at Oswego (now SUNY Oswego) and taught kindergarten and elementary grades at Wolcott, Brockport, Holley, and Chittenango during the 1940s and ‘50s.

She stopped teaching professionally to raise a family and operate a lawnmower sales and repair business in Fayetteville with her late husband G. Earl Hay.  Always active in community service organizations, she became especially engaged in the Delmar Progress Club after the family moved to this area in 1966 and served as president of that organization during the late-1970s.

Skilled with needle and thread, she made many of her own clothes and worked with members of the Embroiders’ Guild of America to stitch period-appropriate draperies and upholstery for the Red Room of the NYS Capitol and Schuyler Mansion in Albany. During the winters she produced period clothing and decorative fabric works for Koreshan State Historic Site, Fort Foster, and other historic sites in Florida. She was active in Quilters United in Learning Together (QUILT) and made personalized canine training capes for the Upstate Guide Dogs Association.  

Margaret was also a talented miniaturist and a member of the International Guild of Miniature Artisans (IGMA). She worked with Earl to create and exhibit historical furniture and room settings at 1:12 scale. They enjoyed their annual trips to the Guild School in Castine, ME and to miniature shows throughout the east coast.

They toured the country in a succession of motorhomes and developed a taste for international travel after Earl retired from the State Education Department, making several ElderHostel trips to Europe and intergenerational trips with their grandson Ian. They spent winters in Lakeland, FL but throughout all her travels, the family cottage on Tuscarora Lake in Erieville, NY remained Margaret’s happiest destination.

Survivors are sons, Duncan of Boston; Peter (Miyuki Yoshida-Hay) of Commack, NY; and grandson Ian of Shad Bay, NS.

Memorial contributions may be made to Delmar Progress Club, P.O. Box 423, Delmar, NY 12054 or Friends of Five Rivers, 56 Game Farm Rd., Delmar, NY 12054.