Posted by Communications Liaison Ellie Simpson, thanks to Archivist Jon Coss.

Marguerite “Maggie” Hicks was born in 1905 in Pelham, the daughter of Esther and Clarence Hicks, who was an executive vice president at the Standard Oil Corporation. He served as an elder at Huguenot, and Maggie joined the church in 1921. She had the second highest GPA in the Class of 1922 from Pelham Memorial High School and won a scholarship to Cornell. She worked for a while at the Equitable Life Insurance Company in New York City.

Clarence and Esther Hicks. WAVES recruiting poster. Portrait of LCDR Marguerite Hicks.

During World War II, Maggie joined the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service). In November 1942, she delivered the salutatory address as she and 900 of her fellow WAVES received commissions as officers. (Clarence Hicks died in 1944 in Sarasota, Florida.)

Marguerite met Army Captain Edward Maher, a former Equitable employee, in 1944 and they were married on furlough that year. They had no children. She remained in the Naval Reserve after the war and became a Lieutenant Commander, one of the highest-ranking women in the Reserve. Upon retirement, the couple lived in Scarsdale. She died in 1999 at age 93.

Sources:

Family Search. https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/LW5L-1Q3/clarence-john-hicks-1863-1944

New York Times. 7 Dec 1942. https://www.nytimes.com/1942/11/07/archives/115-waves-become-officers-of-navy-commissions-and-orders-are-given.html

Scinta, Arthur. https://www.pelhamtownhistorian.com/pmhs-1922class

Taylor, Leslie M. “What Miracles Reveal: The nature of life, who we are and why we are here.” https://miraclesforall.com/r-new-what-miracles-reveal-the-nature-of-life-who-we-are-and-why-we-are-here/. Blog includes paintings, film reviews, her genealogy (including reincarnations).