Margaret K. Eby, a homemaker and civic volunteer, died July 1 at Gilchrist Hospice Center in Towson of complications from a fall. She was 86 and lived in the Pickersgill Retirement Community.
Born Margaret Keene in Baltimore and raised on Wyman Parkway, she was a descendant of Richard Keene, an early Maryland settler, whose life she studied.
She attended SS. Philip & James School, where she met her future husband, Arthur Eby. She was a 1942 Seton High School graduate and worked for the old Equitable Trust Co. and for the Navy Department at Port Covington. She was also a medical records assistant at the old U.S. Marine Hospital.
Mrs. Eby enjoyed gardening and needlepoint. She often entertained at her home, and she hosted an annual Thanksgiving Day party after the Loyola-Calvert Hall football game.
She was a past president of the Loyola High School Mothers' Club and was a past chair of the Roland Park booth at the Flowermart as a member of the Women's Civic League. She also served as a Baltimore City election judge.
Mrs. Eby and her husband attended reunions of his Marine Corps bombing squadron, and she hosted its 1997 reunion held in Baltimore. The couple also enjoyed overseas travel.
A Mass was offered July 7 at the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, where she was a member and active in Boy Scout Troop 1000, founded by her husband.
Survivors include seven sons, Charles A. "Skip" Eby III of Baltimore, Michael C. Eby of Ocean City, John Christian Eby of Baltimore, Louis K. Eby of Washington, D.C., Edward C. Eby and Martin J. Eby, both of Ruxton, and Paul V. Eby of Glen Arm; a daughter, Margaret D. Eby of Baltimore; a sister, Emily K. Fitzpatrick of Baltimore; 13 grandchildren; and a great-grandson. Her husband of 58 years died in 2006.