Sewickley resident loved the arts, gave back to the community
In more than a century of living, the wardrobe of Margaret “Peggy” Orr Childs included ball gowns, colorful golf skirts and ski jackets. Her clothing changed, but she always wore a warm, engaging smile.
“All of my close friends called her Mrs. Sunshine. She was so cheerful and fun and happy and made everybody feel good,” said her daughter, Christine Childs Palmer of Kentview, Calif.
Mrs. Childs, who lived in her Sewickley home for 75 years, died there on June 19. She was 101.
“She taught us to live in a state of gratitude,” Mrs. Palmer said, describing her mother’s philosophy as appreciating what you have in life and the importance of giving back to your community.
Locals know the Childs’ stone and shingle house with a wraparound porch because some scenes were filmed there for “Love the Coopers,” a 2015 movie starring John Goodman, Diane Keaton and Alan Arkin.
The daughter of a Mellon Bank executive, Mrs. Childs grew up in a Shadyside home at 95 Woodland Road and graduated from The Ellis School. She attended boarding school at Chatham Hall in Chatham, Va., and came out as a debutante in 1941. She earned a two-year associate’s degree from the Pennsylvania College for Women, now Chatham University.
Around 1939, her future husband, Clinton L. Childs Jr., visited the Orr family’s cottage at Beaumaris Yacht Club on Tondern Island, which overlooks Lake Muskoka in Ontario, Canada.
While waiting to be picked up from the dock, he changed his appearance. When the Orrs arrived, “He’s standing there looking like he has nothing on except this barrel,” said Thomas O. Childs, of Andover, Mass, adding that his father’s prank amused his mother. The couple married in February 1944.
Mrs. Childs became an accomplished hostess who set beautiful tables at lively parties, as well as an enthusiastic rose gardener, a dedicated fundraiser for Sewickley Academy, where she was president of the PTA, and a Children’s Hospital board member for 25 years.
Mrs. Childs also loved the arts, especially ballet, museums and the theater. In the 1960s, when Mario Melodia began teaching dance at Sewickley Academy, Mrs. Childs vigorously supported his efforts to develop a strong performing arts program at the school, Mrs. Palmer said.
Decades before the Sewickley Tree Commission was founded in 1995, Mrs. Childs and members of the Sewickley Garden Club began planting donated trees during the 1960s throughout the community. Some trees honor famous residents with plaques. Shopkeepers were responsible for maintaining trees in front of their businesses, Mrs. Palmer said.
Every summer, Mrs. Childs and her family vacationed at a cottage in Canada where they sailed, swam, played golf and tennis. A wood-paneled dining room there features 10 pencil marks showing the increasing heights of the four Childs children — and even their dogs.
Mrs. Childs’ grandfather, William Blair, built the cottage in 1903 and taught her, his only granddaughter, how to row to a nearby island, where they often shared picnics.
Isabel Lowrie Childs of Seattle, Wash., was 7 when her mother taught her to sail a Sunfish on Lake Muskoka.
“We capsized it,” Ms. Childs said, adding that after a lot of giggling, she learned how to get on the center board, right the Sunfish and haul herself back on board.
Every summer included a costume ball at the Beaumaris Yacht Club.
“When we were kids in the 1960s, we came as a blackberry pie,” Mr. Childs said.
His sister, Margot Childs Cheel, a fine art photographer from Cohasset, Mass., photographed the costume balls, especially the one in 2015 where her aunt, Poosie Orr, came dressed as a tub of honey while other Childs family members appeared as a loaf of malt bread.
In the 2000s, Mrs. Cheel, who has her private pilot’s license, celebrated her July birthday in a seaplane flight over Lake Muskoka. Along for the trip were her mother and her niece, Katie Childs.
“My mother had headphones on so we could talk to each other. I was taking pictures from the plane,” said Mrs. Cheel, who lives in Cohasset, Mass. The trip included a visit to another lake where the trio dined on freshly caught fish at outside picnic tables.
Mrs. Childs often golfed at Allegheny Country Club and all over the world with her husband.
“Her name is on multiple trophies at Allegheny Country Club,” Mr. Childs said, adding that his mother, who had a fluid swing, won the club’s spring cup in the 1950s,1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
Besides her children, Mrs. Childs is survived by seven grandchildren, seven greatgrandchildren, and her longtime companion and caregiver, Nieva Tomales, who lived with her for 21 years.
A memorial service is planned for September. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to: Valley Care Adult Day Services, 345 Maplewood Ave., Ambridge, PA 15003.