Obituary of Margaret Cameron Tessier

Carlsbad, CA:

Margaret Cameron Tessier, 77, died after a brief illness on December 17, 2025 in Carlsbad, California.  The second of three daughters born to Homer A. Tessier and Cameron Geraghty Tessier, Margaret was born in Glens Falls, New York, on March 17, 1948.

Margaret attended public schools in Glens Falls until her senior year when she won an American Field Service Scholarship to study at the gymnasium in Stadthagen, Germany.  Margaret was a National Merit Scholar, and when she returned to the United States she enrolled in Wellesley College, Wellesley, Mass.  After studying there and at Stanford University, she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree at Yale University in 1971.   Margaret’s was the first class at Yale where women were awarded undergraduate degrees.  While at Yale Margaret translated German scholarly texts for the Jesuit priests earning doctoral degrees.  Many of those priests became her lifelong friends.

After working for two years for Legal Aid in New Haven, Connecticut, Margaret entered Georgetown University Law School and earned a Juris Doctor degree in 1976.  She practiced law in Washington, DC for fifteen years and was a member of the New York State and Washington, D.C. bars.

In her early forties, Margaret changed careers.  She enrolled in the University of Maryland and earned a Master of Science degree in Chemistry and a Master of Arts in Teaching.  Margaret taught advanced placement chemistry and physics in high schools in Fairfax County, Virginia and in San Diego County, California.

While living in Washington, Margaret enjoyed rowing a single skull on the Potomac River and volunteering at the National Botanical Gardens and Reading for the Blind.  After she and her husband, Robert Griffin, moved to California, she resumed playing her bassoon and was a member of a community orchestra.

Many of Margaret’s friends good naturedly remember her appearance on the television show Jeopardy with Alex Trebeck in the early 1990’s.  Margaret entered the Final Jeopardy round with a substantial sum of money.  Never one to shy away from challenges, she wagered it all on the category “Islands”.  Unfortunately, she did not know the island where William Wrigley built a memorial to his wife!  (Catalina, she later learned.)

In addition to her parents and her husband, Margaret was predeceased by her sister Natalie A. Herd and her niece, Sarah E. Herd.  She is survived by her sister, Rachelle C. Tessier, her nephew, Elihu C. Herd, and many loving cousins and friends.

A service remembering Margaret and her rich life will be held in the spring.  Burial will be in St. Cecilia’s cemetery in Warrensburg, New York. 

Please visit www.alexanderfh.net for online guest book and condolences.