Obituaries

Marjorie C. MacGregorRetired Restaurant Manager

Marjorie C. "Margo" MacGregor, a retired restaurant manager and longtime friend of Washington's gay community, died July 8 of failure to thrive and an abdominal infection at Community Hospice of Washington. She was 89.

Ms. MacGregor was born in York, Pa., and grew up in Gettysburg, Pa. Before moving to Washington in 1954, she lived in San Diego, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York City.

She worked at some of the early gay bars in Washington, including the Chicken Hut and the Derby Room. Ms. MacGregor began working at Trio Restaurant, at 17th and Q streets NW, in 1970 as a waitress and became night manager in 1979. She retired in 1997 at 79.

Ms. MacGregor, who preferred being called Margo, was a staunch supporter of the gay community throughout the years, said Robert E. Barker, her caregiver and longtime friend.

During the early days of the AIDS crisis, she refused to tolerate any form of discrimination against people with AIDS and would consistently offer a hug, treat someone to a meal or serve as a surrogate mother to those facing rejection, Barker said.

She enjoyed riding in the annual pride parade, cutting a glamorous figure in a tiara, black feather boa and five pounds of rhinestones. A District resident, she was a fixture in Dupont Circle.

Legend has it -- and Ms. MacGregor never denied the assertion -- that puppeteer Wayland Flowers considered her when he created his salty-tongued puppet, Madame, Barker said. Ms. MacGregor had met Flowers on a train to New York.

Ms. MacGregor loved Frank Sinatra, getting dolled up to go to the opera or a fancy restaurant, and spending time with her many friends.

Her husband, William Reid MacGregor, died in the early 1960s.

Survivors include a son from an earlier relationship, Fred Snyder of Etters, Pa.; and two sisters.

-- Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb