Margaret C. “Peggy” Silva, an Everett native who led Girl Scouts for 37 years and sewed more than 3,400 teddy bears for frightened children in a hospital emergency room, died on August 17, 2026. She was 96.
She was born in Everett to Peter and Mathia (Rizzo) Bruno. Through the Melrose Arts and Crafts Society, where she was a member for 25 years, she started making teddy bears for the emergency room at Melrose-Wakefield Hospital, fifteen at a time, for children brought in after trauma. The hospital knew her as the Teddy Bear Lady. She kept at it until she retired from it at 89. She swam at the YMCA in Malden and served as a eucharistic minister at her church.
Her husband, Anthony L. Silva of Cambridge, died before her. She leaves her daughter, Marianne Doughtry of Everett; her son, Anthony “Joe” Silva and his wife Robin Irwin of Billerica; and her grandsons, Justin Silva of Hudson, New Hampshire, and Adam Silva of Billerica. Her siblings Leo Bruno of Everett, Peter Bruno of Medford, Mary Moreira of Colorado and Sadie Venuti of Everett died before her.
Arrangements were by the Salvatore Rocco and Sons Funeral Home, 331 Main Street, Everett.
Compiled from information published by Salvatore Rocco & Sons Funeral Home, 331 Main Street, Everett. Photograph courtesy of the family via Rocco Funeral Home. This is our own summary, not the family’s obituary; read the full obituary and leave a condolence at the funeral home’s page on Legacy.com. Corrections: we will fix any error promptly.