From collection Member List
Margaret Dow Towsley was passionate about supporting women.
The Theta Chapter alumna was the first woman to serve on the Ann Arbor City Council, where she led efforts to recognize and meet the unique needs of children and working mothers.
She was a major force in creating a gender-integrated YMCA in Ann Arbor, and helped establish the Ann Arbor Women’s City Club. She served on the board of directors for both of those organizations, as well as the Ann Arbor Planned Parenthood, the Ann Arbor United Way, the American Red Cross, the Washtenaw County Cerebral Palsy Association, and the Michigan Community Theater Foundation.
She and her husband established the Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation in 1959 to fund projects in Michigan, especially related to education and health and human services. The Foundation supported the construction of the University of Michigan Towsley Center for Continuing Medical Education and the establishment of the Ann Arbor Children’s Play School.
She established a scholarship at the University of Michigan to serve women who act as primary caregivers or whose education has been interrupted, especially for women underrepresented in STEM fields. For her devotion to education, she was awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters from the University of Michigan.
She also deeded land for use as a small city park, called “Postman’s Rest Park,” to honor the postmen who had always taken time to visit with, and check in on, an elderly woman who had lived in a small house on the property.
