Margaret Vaughan Siebel

MARGARET VAUGHAN SIEBEL  JULY 15, 1957-JANUARY 1, 2019

Margaret Vaughan Siebel died suddenly on January 1, 2019 of aortic dissection, with her loving husband, Stuart Brown, by her side.  They had only recently moved to New Mexico.

Margaret grew up in Chappaquiddick, Massachusetts and India, where her step-father Clarence Andrade was a consultant with the Ford Foundation for twelve years. Her mother Winifred Vaughan Andrade was daughter of a prominent surgeon, John Colin Vaughan, and grand-daughter of a sea captain who raised his family aboard his square-rigger ship “Lizzie Ross’.  Her father, Fritz Siebel, illustrated children’s books, most notably Amelia Bedelia and A Fly Went By.

Margaret explored India to her heart’s content, returning to a traditional American home at the end of each day. She attended Loreto House in Kolkata, and the American Embassy School in New Delhi, graduating from St. Stephens’ High School in Austin, Texas.

Margaret left the University of Michigan to attend to her parents’ failing health in Austin, and be near her cousin, Elspeth Rostow and husband, Walt.  She graduated from the University of Texas, obtained her juris doctor from Lewis and Clark in Portland, Oregon, then moved to Washington, DC where she consulted on (Native American) Indian health programs, and at the Federal Aviation Administration. Since 1987 Margaret and Stuart made their home in Washington, DC.  In August they moved near Santa Fe where Margaret celebrated the beauty of New Mexico.

Her true passion was art.  Coming from a family of artists, she spent Chappaquiddick summers painting landscapes. Known for elaborate art projects, she introduced her children’s schoolmates to stained glass, tie-dye, and papier mâché.  Her fanciful storefront installations in DC included mobiles of butterflies, birds, airplanes, and lanterns.

Margaret should be remembered as artist, nature lover, and avid gardener. She was a joyous, generous, loving soul.  She had dreams of dedicating her next decades to sharing her creative talents with her new neighbors in San Ildefonso, Los Alamos, and Santa Fe.

She is survived by her husband, Stuart Brown, a native of Los Alamos, daughter Emily, an artist living in Richmond, VA, and son, Henry, a mechanical engineer in Cincinnati.  Margaret’s siblings are artists.  They include brother, Dr. John Siebel of Ross, CA, and sisters Katherine Kunhiraman of Berkeley, CA and Chennai, India, renowned Indian dance instructor, and painters Heddi Siebel of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Barbara Thomas of East Hampton, NY.  Survivors also include Margaret’s stepsister, Gretchen Mannix, stepbrothers Max and Fritz and stepmother Gretchen Siebel.

A DC Memorial is planned for February 2.  The family requests donations be made to: Pueblo de San Ildefonso c/o Glenda Fred-Weahkee, Director of Education, 02 O Tunyo Po, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87506, (or Southern Poverty Law Center, Planned Parenthood, Care, or Trustees of the Reservations). The family of Margaret Vaughan Siebel has entrusted their loved one to the DeVargas Funeral Home & Crematory of the Española Valley.  505-747-7477