Margaret D. Alexander Farthing

Margaret Duncan Alexander Farthing of Clarksville, Maryland departed from this life on Tuesday, April 21, 2026 at Brooke Grove Assisted Living in Sandy Spring, Maryland. Margaret was born in Charlotte, N.C., the daughter of Laura Duncan Alexander and Samuel Craighead Alexander, Sr. She was the youngest of their three children. After graduation from Central High School in 1955, she left North Carolina to attend her beloved Wellesley College, where she majored in music. Margaret graduated Alpha Kappa Chi from Wellesley in 1959, after which she set off for the Washington, D.C. area to make her career. There she met Winfield Harrison Farthing (Harry) on a blind date set up by friends. True love blossomed. They married six months later, on February 27, 1960, at her home church of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. Three children within five years quickly followed. Margaret kept busy with parenting the children through their early childhoods even as she attended law school at night at the University of Maryland, from which Margaret obtained her law degree in 1973. Despite a somewhat unreceptive atmosphere for female attorneys at the time, Margaret nevertheless promptly went to work for the Law Offices of Joseph C. Roesser in Aspen Hill, Maryland. From there she moved to Aetna Insurance Company, before beginning a pioneering career as a solo practitioner in the then newly formed field of Elder Law. Her firm of Margaret D. Farthing & Associates later became Farthing, Farthing & Forgotson, and then Farthing & Farthing, P.C. While raising three school aged children and working as a litigation and elder law attorney, she also served the First Baptist Church of Washington, D.C. in various ways, including as Moderator. Margaret retired from the active practice of law in 2010. Later in life she and Harry found great joy in travelling the world, often in the company of their grandson, Daniel, and son-in-law, David. Together, Margaret and Harry visited all of the continents except Antartica. For a number of years she volunteered as a Docent at the Baltimore Museum of Art, leading school group tours and sharing her deep love of art. She enjoyed her membership in the Washington Club of Washington, D.C. until its closure, and she and Harry maintained a membership in the Engineering Society of Baltimore, where they often attended concerts and holiday gatherings at the Garrett Jacobs Mansion. A few years after Harry's passing in 2016, Margaret met Robert E. Prince at a function at the Engineering Society, and the two became devoted companions through her final years. Mr. Prince was at her side every day throughout her struggle with pancreatic cancer, and was present with her, along with her daughter, as she passed. At the time of her death, Margaret was a member of First Presbyterian Church of Howard County, with ties as well to Christ Church Wayside, in Newburg, Maryland. Margaret Farthing is survived by her son, Winfield Harrison Farthing, Jr. of Howard County, Maryland, daughter Laura V. Farthing Berthiaume of Mountain City, Tennessee, son Carter A. Farthing of Bowie, Maryland, granddaughter Alexandra Paule Acquaviva and grandson-in-law Jeffrey Acquaviva of St. Robert Missouri, granddaughter Leanora Caroline Berthiaume of Falls Church, Virginia, grandson Daniel John Berthiaume of Falls Church, Virginia, a great grandson, Thomas David Acquaviva, a special niece, Brevard Fraser Kaplan (Eric), and Robert E. Prince of Catonsville, Maryland. Margaret Farthing is interred together with Harry Farthing at Christ Church, Wayside in Newburg, Maryland. In lieu of flowers contributions may be made to Hospice of Montgomery and Prince George's Counties.

Margaret D. Alexander Farthing

May 24, 1937 - April 21, 2026