Margaret C. (“Marge”) Prendergast

(nee Walsh) On September 12, 2026, wife of the late John J. Prendergast; beloved mother of John T. Prendergast (Carole Bernstein), Margo Prendergast Weber, Winnie Branton (John) and Bernadette McPherson (David); loving Grammy of 12; cherished great grandmother of 13, and dear sister of the late Mary Elizabeth (“Betty”) Carr.

Marge Prendergast (“Margaret is my mother,” she would say) was born on October 8, 1928, and baptized January 29th, 1929, at St. Charles Borromeo Church at 21st and Christian streets in South Philadelphia. As a child, she lived in rented houses off Point Breeze Avenue, with her parents, an aunt and uncle, and two cousins, in a closeknit, multi-ethnic neighborhood where what held everybody together “was in the beginning, everybody, black, white, green, yellow, everyone was poor,” she wrote in a recent memoir, Shirley, Mickey, and Me.

She studied dancing from the age of two, first at a school in her neighborhood and later at Philadelphia’s Massey Dancing School, which was a formative experience. She always said her training—and the experience of singing and dancing before other children between shows at local movie theaters (“If you can do that in front of that audience, you can do anything in front of any audience in the world”)—taught her confidence in public speaking and many other areas later in life. She continued to dance well into her ninth decade at weddings, birthdays, and other gatherings, earning her the nickname “Dancing Queen.”

She loved to shop for clothes and rarely appeared in public in anything other than an artfully color-coordinated outfit accessorized with earrings and other jewelry from an extensive stock of such items. For many more years than was good for her, she refused any footwear but pumps.

Some of those earrings featured the logos of her beloved Philadelphia Eagles and Phillies, whose fortunes she followed avidly throughout her life. (While briefly dating Phillies pitcher Bubba Church in 1950, she attended the team’s two home losses in a four-game sweep by the Yankees in the World Series; more recently, a full-size cutout of current Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts featured at family parties and other events she organized.)

Marge attended St. Aloysius grade school and West Catholic Girls high school, graduating in 1946. There she was active in student government; her school paper, The Reaper; and the student World Affairs Council, among other groups, many related to the War effort. She later compiled credits to earn an associate degree at Peirce Junior College, but immediately after high school she went to work at a variety of jobs, including in the business office of a distillery; for the freight forwarding company National Carloading; at an advertising agency; and an export-import firm. In 1954 she was voted Citizen of the Year at the Passyunk Homes, where she was then living with her family and ran a community newsletter and dancing school.

On Thanksgiving Day in 1955 she married John Prendergast following a courtship of several months. After they settled in Most Blessed Sacrament parish, she became a volunteer leader there, involved in organizing fashion shows, student variety shows, and other extra-curricular activities and fundraising initiatives.

She was widowed when John died suddenly in 1971. At the time, he was assistant treasurer of the Girard Trust Bank and manager of its 19th and Spring Garden branch. After a stint working at MBS to be near her children, Marge embarked on her own successful career with Girard (later Mellon), rising from bank teller to District Customer Sales and Service Manager before retiring. A natural talent at marketing, she helped promote the bank’s early ATM, dubbed “George,” inventing “George Bingo” as a way to popularize the service with the community. She also won multiple awards for public speaking from the American Institute of Banking (AIB) during her career.

After moving to Haddonfield, NJ, in 2000, she embarked on a third career as a volunteer leader with the Haddon Fortnightly and Virtua Health. She served as the longtime treasurer and is a past president of the WJ Virtua Women’s Auxiliary, fundraising for and promoting Virtua’s Eatwell Initiative serving Camden County, in particular its Mobile Grocery Store, for which she spearheaded an ongoing effort known as “Bingo for the Bus.”

Marge’s family will receive relatives and friends on Monday, September 21, 2026, 9-10:45 AM, at Christ the King RC Church, 200 Windsor Ave., Haddonfield, NJ; where her Funeral Mass will follow at 11 AM.  Interment, private.  In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions in Marge’s honor may be made to the WJ Virtua Auxiliary at https://givetovirtua.org/initiatives/eat-well/