Edith Virginia Woodbridge McNair, known to friends as Edie died at the age of 89, at her home in Madison, New Hampshire, Dec. 14, 2017.
Edie was born in Germantown Pennsylvania on May 12, 1928. She was the youngest child of Helen and Lester Woodbridge. Edie met Bob McNair through the Buck Ridge Ski Club, another club where he was one of the founders. On one of their early dates Bob arrived in a friend’s MG-TC. As they walked to the parking lot, he asked her to pick the car she’d like to go for a ride in. Edie picked the MG, Bob walked over started it up much to her surprise, and off they went. He didn’t tell her then, but her choice convinced him she was pretty special. Bob and Edie were married on June 12, 1949, departing the wedding in a 1907 Reo and spending their honeymoon riding a tandem around Nantucket Island.
They built a home in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania where they raised their 4 children. Bob and Edie were interested in antique modes of transportation. While Bob collected cars and bicycles Edie collected and restored a number of beautiful antique carriages and sleighs. She was as talented with a hammer and a paintbrush as she was with a sewing machine, doing much of the restoration work herself. She enjoyed driving her carriages in Vermont, where she’d often pile in a load of kids for a bumpy ride down to town for popsicles.
Not content to merely drive the sag wagon on Wheelmen rides, Edie became one of the first women members of the Wheelmen, achieving voting status on a very early, very heavy little Columbia ordinary. Edie was often found on a tandem with Bob, a testament to her courage, as she was often seated in back allowing him to steer in spite of his diminished eyesight. She also enjoyed riding her lovely pony Star in parades. With their 4 children she and Bob had many adventures both on land and in the water. Edie and Bob won the first U.S. National White Water Slalom Championship for mixed doubles canoe in 1958 a title they held for three years.
She loved embracing new adventures; she purchased a little blue MG Midget, bought a used hang glider and tried hang gliding off of Blueberry Hill at the family farm in VT, and zoomed over the back roads on her cherry red motorcycle. In later years, Edie was introduced to another widow with a taste for travel and adventure. Edie and Peg took many amazing trips together. She will long be remembered for her out-going personality, her “you can do anything if you work at it” attitude and her generosity. Her life was over-flowing with the love of family and friends.
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A casual Celebration of Life is being planned for August 4, 2018 at her Farm in Madison NH. Plans are to meet 11-3 starting with a celebration of a life well lived, then a light lunch followed by Edie's favorite Ice Cream and Mint Oreos.
