This is very, very sad news. I fell in love with Margaret, her songs, and her singing the first time I heard her. After we met her she was always so generous, such a warm and charming person, that she became very special to us. She brought us so many fine songs and such a sense of the music and history of her part of the country.

Amost exactly 20 years ago, at an informal gathering, I got up nerve to approach her and ask whether she had recorded "the song about the crooked legged colt." She said, "Oh, I'm glad you like it. It's called Bill Hopkins' Colt and it's on the my album called "Make the Wildwood Ring.'" She said the LP was out of print at that time and she didn't know where I could buy it -- "So just find someone with the album and ask them to tape it for you." So nice.

Another time she let me try playing her MacArthur harp, which had fascinated me during her latest concert. I felt very much at home with it and was lucky enough to find one for myself. Of course I learned to play it from Margaret's book and tape. I'll likely never do it justice, or play it with her sensitivity and skill, but it's something to aim for anyway.

She is a bright star. I wish her a calm passing, filled with love and as much comfort and ease as is humanly possible.