WOODBURY: Margaret Lee (Ferry) Wohlers, 76, passed away unexpectedly at home in Woodbury on October 3. She

was born September 23, 1950, in Abington, PA, and grew up with her family in Hilltown, PA. She was the

daughter of the late John Stiger Ferry and Margaret Evans Ferry.

She graduated from the Northfield School in 1968 and Middlebury College in 1972. From there she went

to Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, MA, where she received a Masters of Divinity in 1976. The

timing was right, as the Episcopal Church approved the ordination of women at its General Convention in

1976, and so she was ordained a priest in Scranton, PA, in May 1977. She was the first woman to be

ordained in that diocese (Bethlehem) and among the first 100 women ordained to the priesthood in the

Episcopal Church. She initially served as chaplain at the Middlesex County House of Correction and then

as Associate Priest at Trinity Church in Concord, MA, where she met the love of her life, Charles (Chad)

Wohlers. They were married on July 21, 1984, and lived in East Bridgewater, MA, for many years. During

this time she was the Protestant chaplain at U. Mass. Dartmouth and also served congregations in

Halifax, Fall River, Easton, Taunton, and Mansfield, MA. She also earned a Masters in Library &

Information Science from Simmons Univ. in Boston. She served as interim rector at St. Thomas & Grace

Church in Brandon, VT, from 2006 to 2008, and then was called to St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church

in Hardwick, where she served from 2009 until retirement to her home in Woodbury in 2012.

Lee has written poetry all her life and, since retirement also engaged in memoir writing. She was an avid

reader and sudoku solver. She enjoyed entertaining the cats, taking walks and communing with the frogs

in the little pond near the house.

She was predeceased by a sister Joan Ferry of Hilltown, PA, and is survived by another sister, Sandra

(Helmut) Ammon, of Mequon, WI. She is survived by her husband Chad, daughter Tamasin (Melissa) of

Quincy, MA, son Christopher of San Francisco, step-daughter Sara (Matthew) Mallio of Littleton, MA, two

nephews and a niece.

A memorial service will be held at a date to be determined at Christ Church in Montpelier. Contributions

in lieu of flowers may be made to the Alzheimer's Association .