Margery Lesser was born May 24, 1933, in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to Betty and David Lesser. As the baby of five sisters, all of whom were more than four years older, Marge was doted on. She adored her older sisters who took her skating, read to her and braided her hair. Little Margie was seemingly everyone’s favorite amongst her large circle of aunts, uncles and cousins, most of whom lived nearby.
From an early age, Marge loved reading, playing piano and the beautiful garden behind the family home on Harlem Avenue.
Throughout her life, Marge made friends easily with some relationships stretching as far back as preschool and spanning the oceans. Housekeepers were as important to her as politicians and Marge continued to make new friends and connections for the rest of her life.
Marge loved to travel with family and friends, spanning the globe from the Galapagos Islands to China, Russia, Greece and Israel. She loved the water, especially Long Island Sound, site of the beach cottage in Fairfield, Connecticut, which was part of her life for five decades.
An exceptional student, Marge graduated from Bridgeport’s Central High School at 17 and headed to Wellesley College, not long after her father passed. Marge majored in French and political science and even spent a summer studying in France. The trip to France had such a lasting impact that she became a lifelong Francophile. She took conversational French classes until the last seven weeks of her life when her health and the weather prevented it.
On a train back to Boston in February 1952, Marge met a Harvard grad student from Brooklyn named Mel Elfin. They shared a deep love of classical music and soon discovered they had complementary sets of Bach’s Brandenburg concertos. Soon thereafter they were married. The newlyweds worked in journalism and enjoyed New York’s cultural activities and restaurants. Almost four years after David’s arrival in 1960, Dana was born in New Rochelle. Two years later, when Mel became Newsweek’s Washington bureau chief, D.C. became home. And in 1966, English Cocker Spaniel Chequers became the first of the family dogs, followed by Taffy, Molly, Grover and Emmy.
She quickly became part of Washington’s social whirl at embassy parties, including becoming friends and tennis partners with several congressional wives. However, family came first at the 29th Street townhouse in Woodley Park. It seemed that almost every cousin spent and then eventually moved to D.C. and spent time there, enjoying Marge’s warm and witty welcome and her famous desserts.
After earning her Ph.D. from Columbia in 1973, Marge subsequently became a political science professor at Hood College in Frederick, Maryland in 1977, eventually becoming department chair. In her 21 years at Hood, Marge loved her students and colleagues and they loved her in turn. Hood honored Marge with a lifetime achievement award in 2024.
In 1984, Marge and Mel moved into the expansive home that they helped design on 30th Street in Washington’s Forest Hills neighborhood. Her neighborhood was important to Marge; she met regularly with friends for walks and parties. She wrote a history of the neighborhood for the Forest Hills Connection in the voice of her beloved dog, Emmy. In 2006, she wrote and published a history of the neighborhood, “Images of America: Forest Hills.” Grandchildren Julie, Amy, Jonathan and Rebecca were born in the span of four years in the 1990s and enjoyed spending time with their grandparents on weekends and holidays, especially in the swimming pool.
During those years, Marge wrote three books: one on the unfairness of women being paid less than men for the same work; the second on Forest Hills and the third on the Dreyfus case.
She is survived by her children, David and Dana, and grandchildren, Julie and Amy Elfin, Jonathan Leidenheimer and Rebecca Rose.
Marge will be remembered for her kindness, hospitality, intellect, quick wit and above all, her devotion to family and friends, including four-legged ones.
In lieu of flowers, contributions in Marge’s memory can be made to the Elfin-Kawecki Scholarship Fund at Hood College or Oldies But Goodies Dog Rescue in Arlington. Services entrusted to Sagel Bloomfield Danzansky Goldberg Funeral Care.