Margaret Starnes Jeffries, 87, died Wednesday, September 4, 2024 surrounded by family at the Solace Center in Asheville following a short illness. A native North Carolinian, she was born to Ernestine Fincher Starnes and Alvin Bradley Starnes on April 24, 1937. She graduated from Raleigh’s Needham-Broughton High School. She earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Theater and completed her Masters of Arts in Speech and Theater at the University of Tennessee.
Margaret was a born actress with an exuberance for life. Her love of drama and the stage took her from Raleigh Little Theater as a young girl to the Carolina Playmakers at UNC- Chapel Hill to acting classes in New York City and Actor’s Equity in St. Louis. She met her husband Donald Craig Jeffries in Cherokee, NC where they both performed in productions of “Unto These Hills”.
After a brief stint in New York City, the couple moved to Knoxville, TN in the 1960s where she was “Miss Margaret” on the local Romper Room show enjoying some local notoriety. She was proud of the role she played in integrating the children on the show. Don’s work took the couple to St. Louis and then to Cincinnati where Margaret remained active as an auctioneer for PBS fundraisers and as moderator of the local high school “It’s Academic” gameshow. Before retiring, Margaret and Don raised a family in Virginia Beach VA where Margaret was the Development Director at the Virginia Beach Friends School.
Their love of the Blue Ridge Mountains and memories of summers at Cherokee led to retirement in Asheville. Margaret thrived at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute where she made fast friends and took classes in a variety of eclectic subjects. Margaret adored her children and grandchildren and cherished their visits to Asheville.
She was pre-deceased by her husband Donald Craig Jeffries (Jeff) in 2011, her brother Alvin Bradley Starnes Jr. in 1979 as well as her parents. She is survived by her three children Jill Jeffries Dearborn, her husband James and their two sons Henry and Andrew, daughter Meghan Jeffries, son Craig Jeffries and his two daughters, Madyson and Miciah.
A memorial service will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UNC Asheville, Skyland/Buncombe County Library or CarePartners Solace Center of Asheville.
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See the original obituary HERE.