Margaret Elizabeth DeStefano

Margaret DeStefano died peacefully, surrounded by loved ones in her beloved Anchorage Alaska, on April 22, 2021. She was 94. Orphaned as a child, Maggie's legacy of faith, resilience, perseverance and loyalty to family is one her children will always carry with them. She put herself through the University of Maryland, earning a bacteriology degree in 1949. From there she became one of the first women officers in the US Air Force. Maggie met her lifelong love, Peter, at Air Force Laboratory Officer Training School. He asked her to marry him on the first date and every date thereafter. On the seventh date she said yes to a 62 year marriage that ended with Pete's passing in 2018. Maggie's love for adventure, nature and animals, commitment to family, and religious faith guided her life. Love for adventure brought her to the military, Alaska, and a career with the Anchorage Municipal Health Department. Maggie found joy in horseback riding, and her pets were like her children. She loved backpacking, kayaking, birding and fly fishing throughout Alaska and around the world. Commitment to family brought her to marriage and to motherhood - she wanted 12 children but the doctors made her stop at five. Religious faith guided her to a lifetime of active Catholicism. Anchorage's Holy Spirit Retreat Center was her final spiritual community. Over the 25 years her children lived with her, none of them ever saw her take a nap. Maggie was a doer. She got it done, all done, more than all done and never complained about the effort. She slowed down a bit in her later years; after the age of 90 there were a few naps. Maggie is survived by her children, Margaret, Deedee (Rick), Ralph (Lori), Josie (Bill) and Ray (Heidi); and 11 grandchildren. Please join us for a funeral mass on Thursday, April 29, 2021, at 10:30 a.m., at the Holy Spirit Retreat Center Resurrection Chapel in Anchorage. Interment to follow at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Catholic Social Services of Alaska.