Margaret Loranger, age 89, a resident of Bedford from 1968 to 2020, died on April 22, 2025 in Santa Monica, California. She was born June 10, 1935 in New York City, the daughter of Jakob H. and Meta Hecksteden Martens, immigrants from Northern Germany. She grew up on Popham Avenue in the Bronx with her elder brother Jacob.
Margaret attended Hunter College High School and graduated with honors from Hunter College, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She received a master’s degree in English from Fordham University and taught for seven years in the New York City public school system before raising her three children, Douglas, Jane and Robert.
During her student days, Margaret was a salesclerk at Macy’s in Herald Square and modeled in the store’s newspaper ads. In later life, Margaret worked at Fox & Sutherland in the Children’s Books & Toys Dept. and at Woodworker Toys in Mt. Kisco, where she put to use her uncanny ability to recommend to bemused parents and grandparents the perfect gifts for their kids and grandkids.
It's hard to convey Margaret's extraordinary thoughtfulness and generosity, and how much she loved people and talking, especially talking to strangers. Soon a stranger would be a friend, and she'd be passing along Christmas gifts for their children. Into her seventies, she was also an adept solver of New York Times crossword puzzles. No day of the week was too hard for her.
Her husband of 61 years, Dr. Armand W. Loranger, a psychology professor at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, died in 2019 at their home in Bedford, New York.
She is survived by her children, Douglas of Walnut Creek, Jane Bordal of Santa Monica, and Robert of Goldens Bridge, and her grandchildren Finn Bordal and Rufus Bordal.
Donations in Margaret’s memory may be made to the American Indian College Fund at https://collegefund.org.
