Margaret St. Pierre Brender

Margaret (Ann) St Pierre Brender (April 16, 1947-July 7, 2026) was born in Kittery, ME to Thomas and Ruth (Rogers) Harding. She is survived by her husband of 51 years Ronald (Ron), her sister Dianna (Dee) McAllister, nieces Christyann McAllister Rothmel, Mariann McAllister Klosin, and Kimberly Harding, as well as great nephews Jacob and Adam Rothmel, and great niece Brittni Larcom.

Margaret was many things during her 79 years. A musical career started early, and she made good money as a substitute organist during her high school years. But her musical training at Indiana University was cut short as the money ran out. Early arthritis in her hands precluded a return to keyboard performance. She turned to teaching in special education but there were no teaching jobs to find when she graduated from Fitchburg State Teachers College in Massachusetts. She then became an administrative assistant in an up-and-coming computer company, Digital Equipment Corp (DEC), in Maynard, MA.

At DEC she met her husband Ron while seeking support for joining the White Water Canoe program of the Boston Appalachian Mountain Club. He helped her join, as well as courted her (and vice versa). When they paddled together for the first time, it almost precluded their marriage. But they worked it out, at the cost of a second canoe. Years later they came to love paddling together in the same boat. They paddled together and separately for almost 30 years all over New England.

When Ron was awarded a sabbatical year as a Visiting Scientist in the Computer Science Department at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburg, PA, she enrolled at the University of Pittsburg and earned her MBA degree, specializing in Finance and Marketing. Back at Digital she went on to spearhead the marketing introduction of Digital’s premier computer system, the Alpha Systems.

While in Pittsburg, Ron earned his Private Pilot license. On her first ride with him she turned a navigation chart into a paper mache ball and declared she could never do that again. After discussion she decided to try a lesson or two to see if it helped her fear. Being in control was so much fun she went on to earn her own Private Pilot license. The two alternated duties as Pilot in Command for several years until she lost her medical certificate due to the need for depression medication. But she never lost her love of flying as they travelled all over the National Parks out west, to Alaska, Mexico, and even did flying trips in Australia and New Zealand. Beginning in 1990 they made over thirty trips to the annual EAA AirVenture convention in Oshkosh, WI, often travelling via Brender Airlines.

Initially her depression proved resistant to medication and after several years of failed medication trials she applied for and was accepted as a resident research patient at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, MD. During her 15 months there she became “patient number 1” for a new treatment called Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), which is now a FDA-cleared therapy. The NIMH also came up with an anti-depressant medication combination that did work for her.

During her depression, Ron and her sister Dee conspired to give Margaret a cat, a stray that had been living in Dee’s garage. Margaret hated cats, or so she thought. But GC (short for Garage Cat) soon won her over. Margaret eventually began volunteering with the local Humane Society in Nashua, NH doing everything from cleaning cages to placing cats in farmer’s barns to organizing fund raising events, such as several highly successful Walkathons. She was once named the Humane Society New England Volunteer of the Year for these efforts. There she also got introduced to TNR (Trap, Neuter and Return) Programs. Over the next decades, she developed, organized and ran monthly TNR programs, in both New Hampshire and Massachusetts, which grew to regularly treat nearly 200 feral cats a month, using all volunteer staffing. She also consulted with the Veterinary College at Tufts University as they set up their own TNR program for student training.

Her own collection of cats quickly grew to four, adding Jennaya, Branden and Little John. But there were often dozens more scattered about the house, from moms with new litters to feral cats in traps filling the garage while awaiting the next TNR clinic. (Yes, she became an expert trapper, too.) Jennaya and Branden even made their way from New Hampshire to Indiana as passengers in Ron’s airplane. Her last own cat here in Indiana was Lady Tabitha.

In Indiana, she volunteered at the Almost Home Humane Society. She also became active in the League of Women Voters, serving several terms as both Secretary and Treasurer. She was especially supportive and involved in the voter registration programs.

There will be no services. Cremation is planned with the ashes to be scattered at sea. If so inclined, donations in her memory may be given to any Humane Society.