Peggy was born in Roseburg, Oregon and spent some years growing up in California.She had two sisters, Pat and Gladys. The family returned to Roseburg where they lived in the garage while her dad built the home they would live in near the South Umpqua River. Her parents worked for the Green School District and her mom would go to each new teacher on the first day to make sure mom was called Peggy, not her given name, Elizabeth. Throughout school she worked at her father's locksmith shop and at the bakery. Peggy graduated from Roseburg High School and went on to college at Whitworth College in Spokane, WA. She worked hard and saved up for a big adventure- a year as an exchange student in India. She rode a plane for the first time on her long journey there and studied along side Indian students and other exchange students. She traveled around the country and visited a number of countries including Cambodia (where she had a whopper of a story about giant spiders on the mosquito netting of her bed) and Japan on her journey home. She wore a sari home and most people thought she was Indian.
It was because of this program that she had to attend summer school to finish her teaching credentials and it was that fateful summer she met her husband to be, Frank Tremel. When they made the decision, they planned the wedding in a week and her mother made all the dresses. They were wed at the First Presbyterian Church in Roseburg, OR in 1958. Mom taught for a year in Spokane while Frank finished school and it was that year Peggy gave birth to their daughter, Dorothy.In 1959 then moved to California where Frank began his career with the YMCA and Peggy continued her teaching career. Their second daughter, Debbie, was born in California as Peggy and Frank made frequent moves to accommodate Frank's career.
Finally, in 1968, Frank got a YMCA position in Roseburg so they were able to move "home". Peggy was delighted to be close to her parents and began substitute teaching. A couple years later she found the job of her dreams, teaching sixth grade at Deer Creek School in the Glide school district. Peggy loved working with 6th graders, loving their creativity and ability to learn so much. She created amazing educational experiences which her students long remembered, including a "Countries" program where they learned to work independently, problem solve, use teamwork and learn about economics as they each lived and "worked" in a country. No student ever forgot (or family having come to help set up) the Earthquake day where some countries were damaged and had to seek aid from their neighbors and figure out how to recover. Peggy loved art as well. She never thought she would since she believed the teacher who told her she wasn't artistic, so had never pursued art. From her own experience though, she was able to find the creativity in all her students.
Peggy also did lots with her family, from running Camp Fire Girls groups for her daughters to canning fruit with her mother. The family did a lot of camping- the favorite destination being Lava Beds National Monument. She was mortified to recall the first time they found it and left the girls sleeping in the car to go explore a cave. Guess times have changed. The family spent many happy hours exploring the dark caverns and tunnels and enjoying the high desert evening air and rich Native American history. The family camped up the North Umpqua frequently and keep a once a year trip with the whole family for decades.
Peggy's other love was teaching Sunday School at the Presbyterian Church. She wasn't happy with the "boring" curriculum that was too common at the time so she created a Learning Center Program which incorporated different stations, types of activities and fun to make learning about the bible enjoyable. Peggy ended up teaching Sunday School for a remarkable 50 years.
After retiring, Peggy worked on genealogy, making a couple trips to Salt Lake City to do research. She and Frank took a cross-country road trip in an RV visiting her sister, Pat, in Ohio, some of Frank's family in Pennsylvania and taking in the sites of New England. She spent a great deal of time with her parents and helped a great deal in their later years, visiting her mother every day after her dad had died. Peggy loved family, loved to laugh and have fun, loved to "visit", especially with her second cousin Randy and his dog Gerty and she loved to eat and see her friends at Karen's Coffee Cup.
In her own later years, after losing Frank in 2010, Peggy focused on spoiling her dogs, volunteering at the Genealogy Society and doing card classes at Roseburg Book. After a number of falls, Peggy moved to Oak Park Assisted Living and sadly fell before Christmas and broke her hip in three places. The strain of this and her other illnesses was too much and she died on New Year's Day with her daughters by her side. Peggy was ready to see her beloved Frank again and her parents and trusted in her faith of everlasting life.