Margaret “Peggy” Lewis Baughman, nee Fleming, 87, passed away peacefully on February 11, 2025 with family by her side. Born September 16, 1937 in Baltimore, Maryland she was the loving daughter of Lewis Edgar Fleming and Dorothy Moore Fleming. Beloved wife of the late Peter Fridley Baughman, Esq., she is survived by her three children Martha (Eric Propper), Rebecca and John and her five grandchildren Trip, Mason, Austin, Fiona and Harry. Her brother, Lewis E. “Buzzy” Fleming, Jr. predeceased her.
Peggy was a devoted wife and mother who, most of all, loved being around her children and grandchildren. Peggy was also an avid reader and especially loved spy novels and histories of the British royal family. She enjoyed such other varied interests as gardening, cooking, entertaining, listening to lectures, spending summer weeks in a rustic cabin on a lake in Quebec, collecting loon art, needlepointing and uncovering her ancestry. She was game for just about anything from skeet shooting, to fishing, to skiing to cheering her grandchildren on in any and all sports.
Peggy attended Eastern High School for girls in Baltimore, graduating in 1955. She then attended Gettysburg College where she met her husband, Pete, while working in Ocean City, Maryland for the summer. He was a lifeguard and she was a cashier in a restaurant he frequented so he could see her. After two years at Gettysburg College, Peggy transferred to Goucher College for her junior and senior years. Peter and Peggy married in 1959 and settled in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. She worked teaching kindergarten to support her husband as he attended Dickinson Law School.
After law school, Peggy and Pete moved to the Philadelphia area where they raised their 3 children, eventually settling in Chestnut Hill. Peggy spent her spare time as an active volunteer for different charities. She worked on and eventually chaired the Main Street Fair to benefit Chestnut Hill Hospital, and worked on several Designers’ Showhouse fundraisers to benefit the Chestnut Hill Community Association and senior citizens. As an avid volunteer and horse lover, she also donated her services at local horse shows whenever she could.
As her children grew older, Peggy fittingly started a career of her own as the Director of Volunteer Services for Chestnut Hill Hospital. It was a job she did with love and enthusiasm, expanding the volunteer department and professionalizing it beyond what it had been when she started.
After the death of her husband in 2000, Peggy decided to travel. She lived in Paris, improving her French and seeing all the sites that she had always longed to see. She took a once in a lifetime trip to Antarctica and another cruise up the Northwest Passage. After exhausting her travel itch, she settled in Westport, Connecticut close to her 3 oldest grandchildren. She spent her time attending hockey games, driving carpools, babysitting and spoiling them with sweets. In 2019, she decided to move further north to Damariscotta, Maine where she would settle for the rest of her life. She loved the cold winters and the mild summers in this beautiful coastal tourist town and enjoyed her view of the Damariscotta River no matter the season.
A “Celebration of Life” in Peggy’s memory will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, contributions in Peggy’s memory may be sent to her long-time charities of choice, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital or Paralyzed Veterans of America.
Arrangements are under the direction and care of the Strong-Hancock Funeral Home, 612 Main Street, Damariscotta, ME 04543. Condolences, and messages for her family, may be expressed by visiting: www.StrongHancock.com.
