Margaret Morgan Chappelle was born Margaret Ayling in 1915 to Edward and Mary Ayling. The Aylings moved to Edmonton shortly after Margaret's birth, where Edward Ayling worked for the John Deere Plow Company. He was a member of the Masons, and served as President of the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce.
In 1936 she married local doctor Gerard Chappelle, son of Walter Chappelle and Anna Nash. Mrs. Chappelle, an accomplished artist, was a long-standing member of the Alberta Society of Artists, the Federation of Canadian Artists, and president of the Edmonton Art Club. In 1947 Mrs. Chappelle trained in the University of Alberta's Fine Arts Department under H.G. Glyde and Jack Taylor. From an early age Margaret had a love of animals and nature that led to her becoming a civil activist in the 1960s. She was instrumental in halting the MacKinnon Ravine Freeway in 1965. This action also started the movement towards urban reform in the 1970s. In 1958 Dr. and Mrs. Chappelle were admitted to the Social Register of Canada Association. Mrs. Chappelle's paintings and ceramics were exhibited in many galleries across Canada. In 1962 she won the medal of honour for ceramics at the International Exposition of Contemporary Ceramics in Prague. Margaret Chappelle died on June 29th 1992 leaving her estate of $3.7 million to the Edmonton SPCA (now known as the Edmonton Humane Society).