Margaret Byard Stearns

1936-2025

Margaret Byard Stearns passed away peacefully on July 21, 2025 surrounded by her family. She was eighty-nine.

Born on March 1, 1936 in New York City to D. Spencer Byard and Margaret M. Byard, Margaret, who went by "Maggie," grew up on East 92nd Street, attended The Brearley School, and graduated from Smith College with a BA in English. She and her family spent their summers in Washington, Connecticut in an idyllic area they lovingly dubbed "Dull Hill."

Maggie lived her life with humor, grace, and "very little fuss," and music was always a part of it. She played violin, viola and could bang out a tune on the piano from The New Scottish Orpheus with very little encouragement. She was a private artist and a faithful summer visitor to Nantucket where she made sure that her six grandchildren learned the pleasure of singing rounds around the dishpan. Wherever she was, her hospitality and warmth ("Thank HEAVENS you're here!") made everyone feel welcome.

Moving back to New York after college, Maggie joined the Blue Hill Troupe where she met the tall, handsome Jim Stearns singing in the back row of the chorus of H.M.S. Pinafore. When the opportunity to run an inn in Vermont arose, the two jumped at the chance; and when the owner's wife added "it would be nicer if you were married," they jumped again. She and Jim were happily married until his death in 2010.

Maggie would say that she is "living proof that an English major can do pretty much anything." Early on, she wrote for Mademoiselle and Scientific American. She authored two cookbooks and was an English teacher at Nobles and Greenough School, Lawrenceville School and Mary Institute. Shortly after Jim became headmaster of Fairfield Country Day School, Maggie was offered the role of National Press Representative for the fledgling Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. With absolutely no experience in the field, she leaped into the role, and this would become a thirty-seven-year career — and an annual commute from Connecticut to St. Louis in the spring for the season. With her creativity, wit, and deep knowledge of language, literature and the arts, she drew prominent music critics and visitors to St. Louis from all over the country—and the world—helping to put the young company firmly on the map.

With a style that was both elegant and easy, there was no piece of writing that Maggie could not improve. Family, friends and colleagues relied on her generous appetite for editing and her delight in good grammar ("'please RSVP' is redundant!"). Maggie was the voice of Opera Theatre and shaped the image of the company. Her English translations of La Bohême (Leoncavallo), Arianna, Hippolytus and Aricia, and Madame Butterfly) were "superb, honest and neatly judged," and her original libretto for the world premiere of Paul Schoenfield's The Merchant and the Pauper was deemed "deftly poetic" by the New York Times. She continued her work as an editor and advisor to her close family of opera colleagues until the end.

In 1990 Maggie was elected to the board of the Sullivan Foundation, a prestigious organization which awards grants to young singers. She became Executive Director in 2001 and completed 35 years of service to the organization.

Maggie and Jim moved to Kent, Connecticut in 1992, with Maggie continuing her work in St. Louis. She was an active member of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church and a member of the board of the Kent Center School Scholarship Fund.

When awarded the Smith College Medal in 2006, Maggie said, "I don't think there can be anyone these days who isn't haunted by the horrors everywhere in the world. But when the flames die down, art and music remain. They are not going away."

Maggie is predeceased by her husband, James Pierce Stearns, Jr., and is survived by her two daughters, Sarah Stearns Fey and Katherine Stearns Symonds (Kate), her two sons-in-law, Christopher P. Fey and Toby E. Symonds, and six grandchildren, Andrew John Symonds II (Jack), Margaret Mather Fey (Daisy), Ann Stearns Fey (Annie), James Pierce Stearns Symonds (Jimmy), Elizabeth Mercy Fey (Mercy) and Charles Putnam Symonds (Charlie), who will forever be singing rounds as they do the dishes and playing "Oh Hell," thinking of "Babbo."

A memorial service will be held "in the fullness of time." In lieu of flowers, gifts in her honor to Opera Theatre of Saint Louis or the Nantucket Conservation Foundation would be wonderful.