Service on Sunday for Peggy Schmertzler, 1931-2015

Peggy Schmertzler

A service will be held in Lincoln on Sunday, August 30 for Peggy Schmertzler of Lincoln, who passed away peacefully on August 28, 2015. She was the beloved wife of Alvin Louis Schmertzler; mother of Francis Brooks Belford of New Zealand, Caleb Cushing Clapp of Gloucester and Margaretta Story Phillips of Santa Monica; and stepmother of Amy Anisimov of Newton and Michael Schmertzler of New Canaan, Conn.

Née Margaretta Stewart Bridgman, Peggy was born on November 17, 1931, the youngest daughter of Eveleth Wilson Bridgman, MD and Mary Cushing Whitridge Williams, both of Baltimore, where Peggy grew up. After graduating from the Bryn Mawr School in 1949, Peggy attended Radcliffe College, where she obtained in an AB in history in 1953. Shortly thereafter, Peggy married Samuel Francis Clapp, a Boston lawyer. The couple settled in Swampscott, where their children were born.

Following her divorce, Peggy moved to Cambridge and worked for the next 15 years in the nonprofit sector including positions at Children’s Hospital in Boston and Jobs for Youth, where she was Director of Employment and then Director of Fundraising. During that time, Peggy also received her MA in Continuing Education from Boston University. She married Al in 1974.

Peggy helped found in 1988 the Committee for the Equality of Women at Harvard. She was the organization’s first president and continued working until 2014 to promote the status of—and opportunities for—female students, faculty and alumnae at Harvard University.

After moving to Lincoln in 1985, Peggy was also involved in numerous local civic, social and political organizations including the Lincoln League of Women Voters, the Lincoln Democratic Town Committee, and the Council on Aging.

Peggy is the beloved grandmother of Claire Bridgman Belford of New Zealand and Austin Bridgman Clapp, Lida English Clapp and Elizabeth Clapp of Boston; and step-grandmother of Ian Michael Schmertzler and Ethan Jared Schmertzler both of New York, and Jenny Soo Jung Anisimov of Newton.

A memorial service for Peggy will be held at First Parish Church of Lincoln (14 Bedford Road, Lincoln) at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, August 30. Private family burial is in Lincoln Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to your favorite charity.

Arrangements are under the care of Susan M. Dee and Charles W. Dee, Jr., Dee Funeral Home of Concord.  To share a remembrance or send a condolence in Peggy’s online guestbook, please visit her obituary page on the Dee Funeral Home website.