Margaret S. Wehner

Margaret Sylvester Wehner was born in Center, Colorado, the third of three children to John Joseph Sylvester and Anna Mary DesBrisay. She died at home at the age of 95 surrounded by her family.

When Margaret was growing up, her family were ranchers in the San Luis Valley, having homesteaded in the 1890s. Margaret grew up riding horses, tending a garden, and taking piano lessons. She took care of the orphaned lambs. Her parents moved to Denver so her mother could get better medical care. Margaret’s family initially lived in Lakewood until they moved close to the capitol, as her father had a position on the Colorado Land Board.

Her family was very involved in the ranching and farming life of the San Luis Valley. In the early 1900s, her uncles and father worked with a small group of ranchers to get permission to build a dam on the Rio Grande River and create a new reservoir near Creede for the sole use of local agriculture. To this day, the Rio Grande Reservoir is governed by a local board of directors despite the dogged efforts of the Colorado Water Board to gain water rights to the reservoir.

Margaret attended East High School and was in the class behind the man she would eventually marry, Russell Lee Wehner. After East, Margaret attended the University of Colorado, Boulder. Upon graduating with a teaching degree, she went to work in Bakersville, California for two years. The experience of earthquakes and aftershocks led her to return to Denver in 1955.

Margaret met Russ on a double date, but she was the date of Russ’s good friend. Margaret came home that night and told her mother, “Mom, tonight I met the funniest man I have ever met.” She and Russ soon started dating. They married on June 19, 1957, in Montview Presbyterian Church and were together for 65 years.

Margaret joined Montview Presbyterian Church in 1956 when she was engaged to Russ. Therefore, she was a member for 70 years. She served as an Elder and a Deacon, worked with many adolescents around confirmation, and she sang alto 2 in the choir for 35 years. With other women in the church, Margaret worked to initiate a variety of Montview’s women’s groups, the first being Harried Housewives.

Margaret and Russ worked with the Women’s Homeless Initiative through Montview. For 15 years, Margaret tutored in the Park Hill Elementary Tutoring Program, the Tuesday Afternoon Club, which paired Montview volunteers with elementary students for after-school support. One day in Safeway, a young man came up to Margaret and asked, “Mrs. Wehner, do you remember me? You tutored me at Park Hill!”

After her kids left for college, Margaret did not return to teaching but went into the family business of real estate, and she and Russ ran Russ Wehner Realty and Wehner Property Management together for 50 years.

In the 1960s, when her children were young, Margaret was involved in Girl Scouts, and, with another mother in Park Hill, started a boys soccer team—the City Park Stingers. Margaret was one of the nation’s original “soccer moms.” She had a life-long fear of water but continued to work on learning how to swim late into her 80s; she made sure all four of her kids could swim and had them on swim teams throughout their childhood.

Also in the 1960s, when much of urban America was experiencing white flight, Margaret and Russ intentionally bought a home in Park Hill and sent their kids to public schools: Park Hill Elementary, Gove Junior High, and East High School.

Her avocations were piano, singing, and people. Margaret was mother to four children—Beth (Patrick), Rusty (Frances), Robert, and David (Kim)—and to nine grandchildren: Zach, Ian (Amee), Michael, Dylan, Nell (Aidan), Kellan, Raya, Finn, and Grayson. Margaret was an aunt to eight nieces and nephews and a great aunt to four grandnieces and five grandnephews. And, finally, Margaret was surrogate mother and surrogate grandmother to many people.

Margaret loved family dinners and family vacations. After dinner, she would relax with a glass of port, smoked oysters on a Triscuit, and cheese and crackers. She had a quick laugh and loved playing games—any game: bridge, cribbage, Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit, and nertz. She was a fierce competitor and would scream “NERTZ!” as she lunged across the table to play her card.

Contributions can be made to Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church, St. Francis Center, and the Denver Rescue Mission.

Service to be held on August 1, 2026, 2:00 p.m. at Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church 1980 Dahlia St, Denver, CO 80220.