Margaret Messer was born in Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan. She and her family then moved to Saskatoon where she attended public and high school. After graduating from Nutana Collegiate she attended the University of Saskatchewan and received her Bachelor of Arts in 1939 and her Bachelor of Education in 1942. She did graduate work throughout Canada, the United States and Europe. She received her Master of Arts in Fine Art Education from Columbia University in 1958. Messer taught high school for four years in North Battleford before moving to Balfour Technical School in 1944 where she taught for 23 years. She taught commercial art at Balfour and played a major role in the organization and opening of the present art department. She was also an advisor to the "Beacon", the Balfour yearbook, and was involved in many of the dramatic and musical productions put on by the school. In 1952, Messer was an exchange teacher at Dame Allan's School for Girls in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Great Britain. She was appointed Assistant Professor of Art Education at the University of Saskatchewan, Regina Campus in 1966 and remained with the Faculty of Education until 1973. Messer was involved in several organizations. She was a chartered member of the Canadian College of Teachers, an honorary member of the Saskatchewan Technical Teachers Association and the Saskatchewan Teachers Federation, and a member of the Canadian Society for Education through Art, the University's Women's Club and the National Art Education Association (USA). She was past president and secretary for the Regina Local of the Saskatchewan Society for Education through Art and the first woman president of the Saskatchewan Historical Society. Margaret Messer illustrated many books and journals, from historical books and instructional books on sewing to children's coloring books and science workbooks. In 1986, she designed many of the stained glass windows for St. Matthew's Anglican Church in Regina. She wrote several articles for the Regina Leader Post on everything from the history of Saskatchewan artists, and the first Saskatchewan settlers to the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.