Margaret "Marge" Ransom

Margaret Theresa Ransom, 83, of Saranac Lake, died August 12, 2016 at the Uihlein Living Center in Lake Placid after a lengthy illness.

She was born Margaret Theresa Blackner on August 31, 1932, the only child of Ethel (Feeney) and Joseph Blackner.

Marge grew up in the Hell’s Kitchen section of New York City at the height of the Great Depression in a neighborhood brimming with diversity. She graduated from Holy Cross Academy in New York City and later received her undergraduate degree in 1954 from the College of Mount Saint Vincent and a graduate degree in teaching from Hunter College following. She began her 40-year teaching career in New York City’s Public School System as an elementary school teacher at PS1 in Chinatown and spent the next decade in various schools in Manhattan and the Bronx. Along the way, she was scouted as a model and spent much of her 20s modeling women’s fashion and furs for New York City’s most prominent department stores.

On a visit to the Adirondacks with her family as a teenager in the 1940s, Marge met and began what would become a 20-year courtship with Stephen Ransom of Bloomingdale. Legend has it that Steve asked Marge to marry him several times to no avail, until one day in 1966, Marge announced that she thought they should get married in October – and so they did.

The couple settled in Saranac Lake and Marge went on to teach English and Reading, first at North Country Community College, then at St. Bernard’s School and throughout the Saranac Lake Central School District. She was passionate about education and teaching and touched hundreds of students’ lives during her long career. In addition to being excellent readers, most of her former students can now speak a little Yiddish and fondly remember being called “Love.”

Marge was a founding member of the Beta Mu Chapter of the Delta Kappa Gamma Society, a professional association of women teachers, and she served in various leadership roles throughout her membership. In 2014, she was honored by its governing body with the Woman of Distinction Award. She also loved to sew and crochet. Her crocheted Christmas stockings have become a special part of holiday celebrations for family and friends for generations.

She is survived by her children, Kevin and Loretta Ransom of Bloomingdale and Stephanie and Jeremy Colby of Saranac Lake, as well as her three grandchildren whom she treasured above all else, Katherine Ransom and Ellie and Patrick Colby. Her husband, Steve, predeceased her in 2000.

In recognition of her life’s work, gifts may be made in Marge’s memory to the educational institution or library of your choice — or, simply read to a child.

Calling hours will take place at the Fortune-Keough Funeral Home in Saranac Lake on Tuesday from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM. A mass of Christian burial will take place on Wednesday at 11:00 AM at St. Bernard’s Church.

Burial will follow in Union Cemetery in Vermontville. Friends can sign the online guestbook and share their memories at fortunekeoughfuneralhome.com.