Margaret Mones Summa

On Monday, April 27, 2026, Dr. Margaret Mones Summa, beloved sister, mother, and grandmother, passed away at the age of 91 after a short but fierce battle with cancer.

Margaret was born on October 12, 1934 (Columbus Day) in Queens, New York, to German immigrant parents Luise and Johann Mones, the seventh of 9 siblings. She grew up in rural Long Island where she and her family raised chickens, goats, and rabbits. At the age of 16, she entered St. John’s University in New York, where she earned her B.S. in biology and chemistry in 1955; she also met her future husband, Frank Summa, there. She went on to receive her M.D. from the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1959, and she and Frank were married one week later. After medical school, she did a rotating internship in New York, and went on to do her residency in radiology at George Washington University Hospital and Bethesda Naval Hospital in Washington, D.C., followed by a fellowship in Nuclear Medicine at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Their first three children were born during her residency, and their fourth child was born a year after in New York.

Dr. Mones was a partner with the Rockland Radiological Group in New City, New York, where she was highly regarded for her diagnostic skill, technical expertise, and gentle bedside manner. She was one of very few female radiologists at the time, and was respected and beloved by her staff and patients for her kindness and empathy.

Her quiet and soft-spoken manner belied a strong, determined spirit and a fierce independence. Margaret was willing to try anything at least once, like body surfing or rafting the rapids in the Grand Canyon, and she was never afraid to tell you what she thought.

She was very disciplined about getting regular exercise and eating well. She maintained her daily morning walk into her late eighties and rarely missed her thrice-weekly water aerobics sessions. One of her favorite activities was taking her grandchildren out for hikes at Bandelier. Though she did occasionally indulge in her favorite meal of lobster, she enjoyed cooking healthy-but-delicious soups for her family, and always squeezed extra bran into her baked goods.

She loved to learn, and had dozens of varied interests. She was an avid gardener who loved to grow vegetables, and every year without fail her garden produced bushels of green beans and gigantic squash that she baked into muffins and soup or carried cross-country in a suitcase to gift to her children. Margaret hated for anything to go to waste and took great joy in persuading her neighbors with fruit trees to let her pick up their extra apples, apricots, and peaches for canning. Having grown up during the Depression, she appreciated a good bargain. Margaret was also an excellent seamstress who could repair anything, and she was ingenious about repurposing everyday items to extend their useful lives.

Margaret loved to travel with her sisters and daughters — some of her favorite adventures included camping in Iceland, cuddling a baby orangutan in Southeast Asia, and a driving tour of the national parks in her camper van — but she also traveled all over the world to destinations like Vietnam, Botswana, and Machu Picchu.

Service to others was a guiding principle in her life. After retiring from a long and distinguished career as a diagnostic radiologist, Margaret moved to White Rock to help raise her two eldest grandchildren. She was a devoted Catholic and also participated in acts of service through the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish, especially the Meals Ministry, where she was famous for her cucumber salad. Margaret was generous to a fault and was always at her happiest helping people, whether through the church, her profession, or simply by giving of her time, talents, and possessions.

Margaret was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, Frank, and her siblings Gertrude, Herbert, Daniel, Madeleine, Siegfried, and John. She is survived by her sisters Ruth and Patricia, her four children Catherine, Deborah, Daniel, and Jennifer, her four granddaughters Emily, Lauren, Alexandra, and Meredith, many cherished nieces, nephews, and cousins, and her orange cat Billy. Her children and grandchildren were her greatest pride and joy.

In lieu of flowers, please consider making a memorial donation to one of the causes Margaret supported: Project Defending Life (defendinglife.org), the IHM Christian Concern Committee (ihmcc.org/ministries), or the Espanola Humane Society (espanolahumane.org).