Margaret Vincent (Peg) Kelley died on July 3 after a brief illness. She was 89.

She was born in Boston on June 29, 1933 to Charles Holley Vincent and Kathleen Monica Matthews of Newton and Edgartown. She attended Newton High School and then Regis College. Upon graduation, she worked as a nutritionist at hospitals and school and was a member of the American Dietetic Association.

She married James Harold Kelley of Watertown in 1956 and moved to Silver Spring, Md. They had six children. For decades they were summer residents of the Vineyard until moving full time to Edgartown in 1990.

Her love of the Vineyard is tied to her family’s long roots on the Island. Her great-grandfather, Charles MacReading Vincent, was a Civil War diarist and editor and proprietor of the Vineyard Gazette from 1867 to 1872. Her seventh great-grandfather, William Vincent, owned the Island’s oldest surviving residence, the Vincent House, which is now a museum.

She was an avid community volunteer, working with the Edgartown Public Library, Meals on Wheels, St. Elizabeth’s Church and as a docent at the Martha’s Vineyard Museum. She especially enjoyed welcoming visitors, whether at the library, museum, or at her home. For much of the past 20 years she could be seen in the evening on her front porch on Upper Main street, chatting with passersby. She also enjoyed a number of creative outlets; photography, writing both short stories and poetry, cooking, reading, and her ever-present New York Times crossword puzzle.

Peg and Jim shared a love for music, theater, and travel. They visited six continents and swam in six of the Seven Seas. Still, she maintained that nothing topped the Vineyard.

Her husband died in 2002. Peg returned to Maryland in 2019 to reside with her family.

She is survived by her children Kate Polesovsky and her husband Mark of Lakewood, Colo., Anne Howard and her husband Mark, Margaux Kelley-Portillo, Elizabeth Kelley and her husband John Sholar and John Kelley and his wife Mitzi, all of Silver Spring, Md., and Bob Kelley and his wife Madelynn of Yigo, Guam. Her daughters Carol Kelley and Claire Kelley both died shortly after their births.

She leaves behind 12 grandchildren: Ally Feldman, Alex Polesovsky, Paige Polesovsky, Shannon Wesley, Jim Howard, Alex Kelley-Portillo, Maeve Kelley-Portillo, Annie Sholar, Jenny Sholar, Vince Kelley, Matthias Kelley and Cameron Kelley; great-grandchildren Sophie Feldman, Quinn Feldman, Felix Polesovsky and Maria Kelley-Portillo; her beloved sisters and brothers in law; and her numerous nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her older sister, Virginia Rowland.

A memorial celebration will be held at a date to be announced later.

Memorial donations may be made to The Trustees of the Reservations or the Edgartown Public Library.

For online guestbook and more information please visit chapmanfuneral.com.