Margaret Brubaker, a former East Hampton Star staff member, died on Nov. 16 at Foulkeways-at-Gwynedd in Gwynned, Pa. She was 84 and had been in declining health.
Mrs. Brubaker was born in Glasgow on Feb. 8, 1937, one of six children of the former Jean Bauld and Archibald Graham. She grew up in the Cathcart area of the city and attended the Holmlea Primary School and King’s Park Secondary School.
When she was 22, her mother’s younger sister, Peg Osborne, who was married to Thaddeus C. Osborne and lived in East Hampton, invited her to spend the summer with her here. Although her aunt was determined to fix her up with “an eligible attorney,” she much preferred the attentions of a “handsome local lad” named Ronnie Brubaker, who, though born in Pennsylvania, had grown up in East Hampton and was working at Dreesen’s Excelsior Market on Newtown Lane when the two met.
Familial objections notwithstanding, she and Mr. Brubaker became engaged, ignoring her parents’ insistence that she return to Glasgow as soon as her three-month visa had expired. They were concerned that she wanted to marry someone they had not yet gotten to know, and so soon after meeting him. The happy couple indeed married in November 1959, less than six months after meeting.
Their daughter, Mary-Jean Huntley, who survives, was born in October 1960.
Over time, Mrs. Brubaker held various positions, including as a teller at Valley National Bank, a teacher’s aide at Most Holy Trinity Catholic School, and as a commercial loans officer at Bank of the Hamptons. Her last job, and, according to Ms. Huntley, her very favorite one, was working for about 10 years as an assistant in the front office of The Star.
“As someone who was a voracious reader and loved to converse, she enjoyed spending her days in a world of ideas with kindred spirits at the local newspaper,” she said.
Mrs. Brubaker also looked forward to gathering with members of the East Hampton chapter of the Cosmopolitan Club, which was made up at the time of women from England, Germany, Korea, and France, who had all married Americans and who took turns showcasing the culture and traditions of the countries they had left behind. The camaraderie she experienced made her happy.
In her retirement, Mrs. Brubaker enjoyed volunteering at the Ladies Village Improvement Society’s Bargain Box shop, walking on the treadmill at the Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter, and strolling along Long Beach in Noyac, which reminded her of the Scottish coastline of Tighnabruaich. According to those who knew her, Mrs. Brubaker was full of life and laughter, and was never boring.
As a happy postscript, her daughter said that her parents took her to Scotland several times, where they were greeted warmly by everyone including her grandparents, “who thoroughly spoiled me.”
In 2018, Mrs. Brubaker moved to Foulkeways-at-Gwynedd to be near her daughter, who lives in Philadelphia with her husband, John Huntley. Mr. Brubaker died in 2004.
Mrs. Brubaker’s brothers, Archie Graham, Robert Graham, and Russell Graham, and her sisters, Isobel Chapman and Jean Buchannan, all of the United Kingdom, died before her. Following cremation in Pennsylvania, there will be a private family gathering in East Hampton, when her ashes will be buried next to her husband at Most Holy Trinity Cemetery.
