Margaret Fenlon Kuh, 83, a Chilmark summer resident since the 1950s, died May 10 at the Collingswood Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Rockville, Md., after a long illness. Mrs. Kuh lived in Rockville.

Margaret Fenlon was born and raised in Chicago, and she was the oldest of 11 children. Because her father, who headed the local draft board during World War II, did not have sons old enough to serve in the armed forces, Margaret enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps at age 20. She served from 1945 until 1949, attaining the rank of corporal.

Following her discharge from the Marines, she worked as a paralegal and as office manager of the Chicago law firm of Seyfarth, Shaw, Fairweather and Geraldson. She was a founder and president of the Law Office Managers’ Association of Chicago.

In 1956, she married Chicago attorney Peter G. Kuh, with whom she was actively involved in ward politics for the Democratic Party. Their family moved to Washington, D.C. in 1962, when Mr. Kuh took an appointment in the Kennedy administration. Mrs. Kuh became active in local politics, and she held positions with the League of Women Voters and the Women’s National Democratic Club. She also did volunteer work from the 1960s through the 2006 elections for Democratic candidates in Washington, D.C., and Maryland, including U.S. Rep. Chris Van Hollen.

In 1973, Mrs. Kuh went to work in Washington for the newly established firm of Peter D. Hart Research Associates. She was the office administrator and personnel manager during the period that the firm quickly became one of the nation’s most prominent election-oriented public opinion research organizations. Mrs. Kuh worked for the Hart firm for 11 years, after which she worked for five years as a paralegal and office administrator for the Maryland law firm of Furey Doolan and Abell.

In her seventies, Mrs. Kuh became a painter and sculptor and a water aerobics enthusiast. She went to many Alcoholics Anonymous meetings on the Vineyard, where she shared her experiences, strength and hope.

Beginning in the 1950s, Mrs. Kuh had been a regular summer resident of Chilmark for more than 50 years. In recent years, she had spent more time on-Island in the fall and winter seasons. She became an annual co-host of Thanksgiving dinners in Chilmark for 25 to 30 family members.

Her husband, Peter G. Kuh, died in 1993.

Survivors include her five children, Jerome Kuh of Seattle Wash., Rita Stoops of Prosser , Wash., Monica Hogge of Harvey’s Lake, Pa., Anne Kuh of Kensington, Md., and Mary Ambulos of Chilmark; and three stepchildren, Charlotte Kuh of Washington, D.C., Audrey Straight of Rockville, Md., and Peter Kuh of Wingrave, England; 18 grandchildren, including Gabriel Ambulos of Chilmark, Jessica Miller of West Tisbury, and David Burt of West Tisbury; by four great-grandchildren, including Marissa D’Antonio of West Tisbury and Isis Burt of West Tisbury; by her nieces, Catherine Thompson of Chilmark and Sarah Kuh of Chilmark; and by five sisters who live in Illinois.

A funeral service for Mrs. Kuh was held Monday at the Church of the Redeemer in Bethesda, Md.