Margaret M. “Peg” Blissman
Margaret M. “Peg” Blissman, 83, of Cape Coral died Friday, February 20, 2015, at Hospice of the Western Reserve in Cleveland, OH. She was born July 3, 1931 in Philadelphia, PA, the only child of Maurice and Margaret Loughran Matsinger, now deceased. The first in her family to attend college, Peg earned a bachelor degree in Education from Duquesne University and a masters degree in education from the University of Pittsburgh, both with honors. She taught grades 1-3 at Penn and Fulton schools in the Pittsburgh School District, and later speed reading and study skills at both Westmoreland County Community College and Boyce Campus, Allegheny County Community College. It was through the University of Pittsburgh Catholic club that she met William T. (Bill) Blissman, whom she married on June 30, 1962. After marriage, she resided in Delmont, Pa., for 26 years before retiring to Cape Coral in l991. She was a member of St. Andrew Catholic Church of Cape Coral and a former member of St. John de la Salle Catholic Church in Delmont, Pa. Her memberships also included the Garden Club of Cape Coral, St. Andrew’s Council of Catholic Women, the Meditations, the Choraliers, Cape Coral Scrabble Club, and Red Hats in Paradise. Some of her many activities included tutoring, editing, singing, shell art, photography, volunteering to tutor GED students at Lifeline, and playing Hand and Foot Canasta. Survivors include her daughter, Mary Elizabeth (Beth) Blissman, Ph.D. of Oberlin, Ohio, and loving members of her extended family, including Marilyn and Jim Holtschneider of Cape Coral, FL. Visitation will be Wednesday, February 25, from 4-7 in the chapel of Coral Ridge Funeral Home. Funeral Mass will be celebrated Thursday, February 26, at 11:30 a.m. in St. Andrew Catholic Church. Interment will follow in Coral Ridge Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorials in her name may be made to: The Peg and Bill Blissman Fund for Literacy, a donor-advised fund of the Community Foundation of Lorain County, 9080 Leavitt Road, Elyria, OH 44035. (Please make checks out the Community Foundation for Lorain County and note that it is for the Blissman Fund.) Condolences may be sent to the family at www.coralridgefuneralhome.com