Margaret Isabel Cavanagh was born on July 24, 1892, in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, her father was James  Howard Cavanagh and her mother, Margaret Jean MacKay. She married John Patrick Keating on August 14, 1930, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. They had one child during their marriage. She was a graduate of MacDonald College, a charter member of Nova Scotia Home Economics Association, and a dietitian at Camp Hill Hospital, Halifax.She died on March 12, 1995, in her hometown, at the age of 102, and was buried in Moncton, New Brunswick.