Madi MacFarquhar, a Burlington resident for 38 years, died on November 1, 2023. She was 96. Madi died peacefully in her sleep in Lawrenceville, Ga., where she moved in 2022 so her oldest daughter could help care for her.
She first arrived in Burlington in 1984, living for 31 years at 37 Ledgemere Street, before residing at Harborview and then Elderwood. Her favorite pastimes included gardening, traveling and browsing Fletcher Free Library for new books about history.
Well into her eighties, Madi was a stalwart member of the Edge’s early morning adult aquatics program. Another member, the late Judy Kelly, once remarked that those tempted to sleep in always remembered that Madi, at least a decade older than almost everyone else, would not miss a class, so they had best not, either.
Born Marie Madeline Gribi on September 14, 1927, in Bern, Switzerland, her Swiss family emigrated to the United States in 1938, as the rise of the Nazis began to convulse Europe. Madi graduated from Mount Holyoke College and worked briefly as a model in New York City, including, she recalled, posing in a bright red sweater for a young photographer named Richard Avedon.
In 1949, she married Murdo M. MacFarquhar, an engineer, moving with him on oil company assignments to South Africa, the Netherlands, Libya and Scotland. The couple had four children, Nina, Peter, Gail and Neil, all of whom survive her, as do 12 grandchildren, 19 great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren.
The longest posting, in Libya, lasted 13 years, and she was often critical of the way the United States intervened in the Middle East. “They behave the way the Romans used to and will go the same way,” she once wrote in a letter.
Widowed in 1977, Madi first moved to San Francisco but, hankering for a smaller city, was delighted to discover Burlington, with its echoes of the Swiss Alps and rich cultural offerings.
No matter where her children were in the world, they always received updates from Ledgemere Street on the summer garden. “It’s skimpy,” she reported in 1989. “I might not be able to eat when the crops come in.”
She loved to travel to far-flung destinations, including several stints volunteering on archeological expeditions on Easter Island and elsewhere. Once, remarking on the logistics needed to catch an airport taxi on Cyprus, Madi wrote, “I don’t feel like being cheated by cab drivers. They will think they are seeing a naïve grandmother instead of a well-travelled battle axe.”
A memorial ceremony will be held in Decatur, Ga., on Sunday, November 19. Funeral arrangements in Vermont are still pending.
This article appears in The Winter Preview Issue 2023.
What a wonderful story about your mother’s life! Madi and my mother, Jean Ayers, were good friends in Marsa el Brega, Libya during the 1960’s. I went to school with Nina, Peter, Gail and Neil. Neil used to come over to visit my mom from time to time. I still picture him. Occasionally, the MacFarquhars would come to our house for dinner. What a large entertaining crowd we all were.
It was wonderful to read about Madi and her life after Brega. I followed Neil’s career with the NY Times and read two of his books. I haven’t had the pleasure of learning more about Peter, Nina, or Gail since. I still picture Neil as a 3rd grader and Gail as a 6th grader. That was the last time I saw them in December 1967 before my parents moved back to the States. My Mother died in 2006 just shy of 90. My father, Kim, died in 1987 from pancreatic cancer at the age of 71. I wish the best for all the MacFarquhars.
Alan Ayers
South Glastonbury, CT