Marguerite Frances “Peggy” Peterson February 22, 1922 - December 6, 2017

Marguerite Frances “Peggy” Peterson, a beautiful writer whose religion was kindness, generosity, humor and love, died Dec. 6. She leaves behind two kids grateful for everything she taught them, two grandsons who in her eyes could do no wrong, a spoiled rescue dog named Happy, 87 photo albums and countless friends whose lives she touched.

Peggy was born Feb. 22, 1922, the only daughter of John and Gertrude Laley and sister to three younger brothers, Jack, Bob and Dick. She grew up in Meadville, PA during The Great Depression and started writing for the Meadville Tribune when she was still in high school. She graduated from Allegheny College in 1943 and went full-time as a Tribune reporter.

It was while covering a trial that she met the love of her life, Robert W. Peterson, with whom she eloped because of religious differences in their families. For a couple of years in the early 1960s she wrote a column called “Home Brood” for the Elyria, Ohio Chronicle-Telegram that gave humorous and poignant takes on raising their children, Thomas J. Peterson and Margaret P. Peterson. After the family moved to Ramsey, N.J. in 1963, she wrote for small papers before starting The Ramsey Reporter weekly newspaper, for which she did most of the reporting, writing, photography and editing.  Later she worked in public relations before taking a job as a researcher and writer for Covenant House in Manhattan.

She was always helping people. For years, she was like a mom to two boys who lived in a center for at risk kids, and after a neighbor died, she would have the neighbor’s daughter come to her house after school for baking cookies and company. One year Peggy received three Mother’s Day cards and none were from her actual children.

She was passionate about politics and boycotted grapes for the United Farm Workers in the 1960s, protesting in front of the town supermarket with her two children in tow. Peggy served on boards for affordable senior citizen housing and raised money for scholarships for summer camp for low-income kids.

She was a great listener and was quick to invite friends and strangers to dinner. She took copious photographs at every gathering and that became an obsession once her grandsons, Thomas P. Walters and Daniel P. Walters, were born.

Happy Hour was an honored tradition in the Peterson household, with Peggy and Bob having wonderful Ramsey friends over for gin martinis and lively political discussions.

In 2008, Peg moved to Luther Crest retirement community which took beautiful care of her and she enjoyed many friends there, including Elsie Conn and Adele Bates. In 2013, she lost her beloved Meadville friend of 87 years, Betty Bailey.

Peggy was enormously proud of the books written by her husband and was constantly promoting Bob’s groundbreaking book, “Only the Ball was White,” a history of the professional Negro Baseball Leagues before Jackie Robinson breached the color line.

After Bob’s death in 2006, she would occasionally write him letters as therapy and wrote once that she had developed a mantra — Make Something of This Day – to stop herself from sinking into depression.

But she also took to heart and believed wholly a line Robert wrote to her on their 10^th anniversary: “We are rich beyond reckoning in all things but money.”

They made others’ lives richer for knowing them.

Survivors: Children, grandchildren, beloved son-in-law Richard J. Walters, best Ramsey friend, Alice Stryker and relatives by choice Rev. Fred and Karen Muir, Bibi Sandstrom and Eric Kollenberg.

Services: A celebration of life will be held at noon Jan. 6 at Crest Hall, Luther Crest, 800 Hausman Road, Allentown.

Contributions: In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to Luther Crest Benevolent Fund, 800 Hausman Road, Allentown, PA 18104 or Covenant House, 460 West 41st Street, New York, N.Y. 10036