Margaret 'Peggy' Sheprow, of Port Jefferson, key cog in village's political life, dies at 95

Margaret Mary Katherine Sheprow, of Port Jefferson, was Irish Catholic through and through, her children said, from her name to the St. Patrick's Day meals of corned beef and cabbage she served to family and friends.

That spirit of hospitality served Sheprow well in her unofficial titles of wife and mother to two Port Jefferson mayors, they said.

“From day one, one of the most gracious, kindest [people] that I’ve every met in my life," her son Warren Sheprow, of upstate Red Hook, said Monday in a phone interview. "Always saw the good in things and always gave people the benefit of the doubt.”

Margaret Sheprow, known as Peggy, wife of former Mayor Harold Sheprow and mother of the village's current mayor, Lauren Sheprow, died Thursday at Stony Brook University Hospital from complications of a stroke, her family said. She was 95.

The mother of seven was a key cog in both family dynamics and the political careers of her daughter and late husband.

A family legend has it she pushed her husband, who died last year, to attend a party in New Jersey around 1977. There, he had a chance meeting that led to the village's purchase of a 200-acre estate that now serves as Port Jefferson's country club.

Lauren Sheprow called her mother "a trailblazer" who earned the trust of friends and acquaintances by keeping confidences, comparing her mother to a key for a vault that gets thrown away.

“My mom could keep a secret," the mayor said. “She was a great listener to people and she completely had their trust because she never violated that trust. Ever.”

Peggy Kerr was born on Nov. 12, 1930, in Newark, to Irish immigrants Edward Joseph Kerr and Susan McElwaine Kerr. Young Peggy grew up in New Jersey and took a job with RCA Corp., where she met Harold Sheprow, a fellow employee, at a company softball game.

They married on Feb. 9, 1957, and moved to Port Jefferson four years later when Harold took a job as a Grumman aerospace engineer. He went on to serve two stints as mayor from 1977 to 1985 and from 1987 to 1991.

Peggy Sheprow amassed 5,000 volunteer hours over 20 years at Mather Hospital in Port Jefferson, now part of the Northwell chain, her family said. Among her favorite tasks: modeling at the hospital's annual fashion show fundraisers.

When she wasn't gardening or playing golf — she made her first hole-in-one in 2006 in Jensen Beach, Florida — she was a catechism instructor at Infant Jesus Roman Catholic Church in Port Jefferson. 

“She really lived that faith the way she wanted people to practice their faith,” her son Glenn, of Port Jefferson, said.

Sheprow also is survived by another daughter, Madelyne Sheprow, of St. Louis; two other sons, Dennis Sheprow, of Sandy, Oregon, and Brendan Sheprow, of Monroe, North Carolina; 15 grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren. She was predeceased by another son, Neil Sheprow.

Visiting hours are 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday at Moloney’s Funeral Home in Port Jefferson Station. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Infant Jesus Roman Catholic Church, followed by burial at Cedar Hill Cemetery in Port Jefferson.

By Carl MacGowan

carl.macgowan@newsday.comCarlMacGowan

Carl MacGowan is a Long Island native who covers Brookhaven Town after having previously covered Smithtown, Suffolk County courts and numerous spot news and feature stories over his 20-plus year career at Newsday.