Margaret Boteler Shelley, 99, of Vero Beach, Florida and formerly Captiva, Florida and New Canaan, Connecticut, died peacefully of old age at home in Oak Harbor.

Born in Georgetown, Washington D.C., she was the fourth of five children of Basil deLashmutt Boteler and Dorothy Rohrer Boteler. She attended Jackson School in Georgetown, then Gordon Junior High. When she broke her ankle at age 12 playing football she went to the Convent of the Sacred Heart because it had an elevator. She loved it there and took an extra year during which she took courses at Georgetown University. The education she received was more of a European "continental" education than normally found in the USA and equivalent to graduation from a modern Junior College.

Margaret often remembered her childhood in Georgetown as very secure and happy, wishing that future generations could experience the same. Georgetown was safe then and extended family lived close by. She had the run of the neighborhood. They never locked their doors.

A debutante presented at the Georgetown Assembly, she attended Mrs. Shippen's dancing class and attended dances at the embassies of several countries. In 1941 she was selected to represent her school as a Cherry Blossom Princess in Washington, D.C., during which she rode in a brand new Navy boat across the Tidal Basin to the newly completed, but not yet opened to the public, Jefferson Memorial.

In 1942, after graduation, Margaret worked at the Community Bank and Trust in Georgetown. Newly married to Naval Officer Tully Shelley, Jr. in 1943, her lessons in the skills of frugal living gained during the Great Depression served her well during and following World War II when among other things she lived in a Quonset hut and had her first born wrapped in newspaper (then considered sterile) at birth.

Margaret saw her role in life as helpmate to her husband's career and mother of their children. She is remembered for making lifelong friends, caring for others, and creating strong family ties and holiday celebrations. In 1952 her husband Tully joined McKinsey and Company in New York City and they settled in New Canaan, Connecticut. Thus began her life with a husband consumed by work, who traveled almost every week, and left her to raise the children largely on her own. Active in the Junior League of Stamford, she made her theatrical debut as Cinderella in their Children's Theater project with performances in many local schools. An accomplished conversationalist, she met and enjoyed the company of many fascinating people.

With her husband, Margaret traveled internationally, enjoyed boating, "sailed" the US Inland Waterway, and lived in London, England. She enjoyed living on Captiva Island, Florida, then in Vero Beach. Together they summered in Gloucester, Virginia as she had done with her birth family as a child.

She is survived by her children Susan, Tully III, William, Blythe and Margaret as well as seven grandchildren and six great grandchildren.

Margaret is preceded in death by her husband of 77 years who called her his "inspiration."