Margaret Halyburton
Chester — Margaret Dorothy Halyburton, a fiercely independent nurse, artist, mother, grandmother and friend, left this world peacefully on Feb. 17. Her family hopes that she was met by her beloved daughter Nancy; her husband, Lee; her parents, siblings and her dearly departed friends and family members.
Margaret, known as Peg by friends and family, was born Oct. 13, 1923, in New Britain to Dorothy May Prentice and John Jacob Grobstein. She grew up in New Britain and spent her childhood summers at the Prentice compound in Cape Cod with her siblings, Edith Prentice Newbury, John (Jack) Prentice and Richard Edward Prentice. It was in Cape Cod that she learned to love art and the ocean. She was an accomplished painter and loved few things more than a day at the beach. Peg attended Ohio State University (she remained an avid Buckeyes fan for life) before going on to study nursing. A diligent career woman at a time when few opportunities existed for women, Peg worked her way up to director of nursing at Aaron Manor in Chester before finally retiring.
Peg’s greatest joy, however, was her family. She met her husband, Wallace Lee Halyburton, and the two married in 1954. Peg and Lee started life on Library Lane in Old Lyme, where they built a house and raised their three beautiful daughters, Nancy Lee Plyler, Kathryn Ann Schoyer and Susan May Labriola. Their home at 22 Library Lane was the heart of the Halyburton family and their circle of friends for over 50 years. It was in this home that Peg spent her happiest years and it was where she welcomed her six granddaughters: Hallee Sage Schoyer, Kathryn Prentice Plyler, Chalen Sloan Schoyer, Kathryn Nicole Labriola, Pamela Grace Plyler and Molly Kristin Labriola. Always close with her beloved sister, Edith, and brother-in-law, Hank Newbury, Peg cherished being an aunt to their son, Scott Newbury. Her family grew in the last decade of her life when her daughters’ half-brother, Edward James Waido, and his family came into her life; she loved Ed like the son she never had.
In her later life, after losing so many friends and family members, Peg lamented being “the last leaf on the tree,” but really she just created her own tree in the nine incredible women she generated. She will be remembered by these eight remaining women, and all those whose lives she touched, for her deep caring, sharp wit, quick comeback and for her love of a good time.
A service for Peggy will be held at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, June 1, at the Old Lyme Congregational Church. Flowers can be sent in Peg’s name to the residents and caring staff of Apple Rehab in Old Saybrook. Fulton-Theroux Funeral Home, Old Lyme, is handling the arrangements. She would hope that you’d think of her the next time you put your toes in the sand and watch the waves.