Margaret Peggy Kocher was born in Salem, Massachusetts in 1921 to Willard and Margaret Grishkin Helburn. Margaret joined the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots in 1943. In 1947 Margaret married Erick Kocher, who served in the Foreign Service for 23 years. Margaret simultaneously entertained monarchs, presidents, and foreign politicians in the Diplomatic Corps and used her biology skills to collect specimens for the Smithsonian and Roman Glass from ruins in Jordan.