Margaret Mary Smetana
Margaret Mary Buehler, a descendent of German immigrants, was born September 29, 1921, in Utica, New York, and grew up during the Great Depression in a country house, where summer fruit, vegetables and elderberries (for wine-making) were delivered through a trap door to the basement. She and her seven siblings enjoyed idyllic summers at a neighbor’s cabin in the Adirondack Mountains.
After graduating from high school at 16, Margaret (“Peggy”) attended St. Elizabeth’s College of Nursing in upstate New York. After completing her nursing degree, she began work towards a master’s degree in nursing education at Columbia University in New York City. Her education was interrupted when the U.S. entered World War II. Peggy enlisted in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps and was commissioned a first lieutenant. She was stationed in North Africa, later in Europe, where she spent most of the next four years working at hospital units that supported the Allied military campaigns.
Peggy was initially posted at a station hospital in Constantine, Algeria, where Gen. George Patton’s 1st Armored Division was gearing up to launch an offensive against German Gen. Erwin (“The Desert Fox”) Rommel. Heavily wounded soldiers near the front, first treated at a mobile hospital, were then moved to her station hospital for further treatment before returning to their units.
To escape the harsh realities of war day and night, Peggy included in her bedroll of essentials three evening gowns and a dress uniform. In an earlier interview with the Tiburon Ark, Peggy proudly noted the 1st Armored Division patch she was wearing on her uniform in a photograph. “The nurses had to fight to get that patch,” she said. Gen. Patton said women would never get them as long as he was around. However, the Army overruled him, and the nurses got their patch.
After the war Peggy, returned to the U.S. and continued her studies in nursing at Catholic University in Washington D.C. where she met her future husband, Alexander Smetana, also a World War II veteran, who was completing his doctorate in political science. After marrying in 1947, they couple moved to San Francisco, where Al had accepted a teaching position at the University of San Francisco. He went on to become the chair of USF’s Political Science Department and an expert in constitutional law. Peggy obtained a BS at USF and continued graduate work at the University of California at Berkeley, and at USF completing two master’s degrees.
While rearing her four daughters, Peggy gardened, canned, learned upholstery and sewed and knitted clothes for them. She and her husband designed and built seven custom homes in Tiburon.
Peggy returned to work as a school nurse for the San Rafael Elementary School District and eventually transitioned at San Rafael High School. After obtaining a secondary teaching credential, she taught health education due to the emerging issues in the mid-’60’s among her children’s generation. Peggy created her curriculum to include inviting local leaders to speak to her students, one of which was founding director Dr. David Smith of the Haight Ashbury Medical Clinic.
Peggy’s interest in guiding young students in their studies and choices after high school graduation led her to obtain a degree in counseling, and from there transitioned to a position with the counseling department at San Rafael High until her retirement.
Retirement allowed more time to swim and play tennis at the Tiburon Peninsula Club until her early eighties, thereafter playing competitive duplicate bridge and enjoying time at the family cabin at Lake Tahoe. In 2016, at the age of 95, Peggy was asked to be the keynote speaker for Marin County’s annual Veterans Day ceremony at the Marin Civic Center. She was the first woman to be accorded that honor, and she received a standing ovation.
In an interview with the Tiburon Ark, Peggy confessed that she was not sure what contributed to her longevity, but surmised that staying physically active, keeping occupied and maintaining an interest in the world around her may have had something to do with it. Those who knew her would say it was also her determination, ability to adapt, a gracious way of living, and keeping her head in the face of challenges.
Peggy is survived by her three daughters, Julia (husband Ted), Margret, and Suzanne (husband Daryl); five grandchildren; and two great grandchildren. She was predeceased by Alexander, her husband for 49 years, in 1996, her grandson Dylan in 2019 (son of Suzanne and Daryl), and youngest daughter Janet in 2020.
Memorial Gifts may be made to: St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105 or www.stjude.org/donate.