GOOD BYE DEAR PEG

Our friend Peg McIntire died last night. Her devoted son, Jo, and daughter-in-law, Sali, were by her side. She will be missed by untold numbers of people whose life she lovingly touched.

I don't remember the exact year that I met Peg, it just seems like I've known her forever. For many years she served as the able Treasurer of the Florida Coalition for Peace & Justice where I worked. She was at every meeting, every protest, and went to jail several times for crossing the line at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida when we would protest against the nuclearization and weaponization of space. Once while in jail she was telling dirty jokes to the prostitutes who shared her cell.

Every summer for years I organized a Youth Peace Camp and Peg would work in the hot humid kitchen all week just as hard as the rest of us. She would lecture us about how we were cutting the celery or the carrots wrong but I just always loved her in those moments. She was always present.

One year when my son Julian was in middle school, and I didn't have enough income to give him a proper summer vacation, Peg invited us to her St. Augustine Beach condo for a week so we could relax, swim in the ocean, and visit Alligator Farm.

Peg lived for many years in Rome, Italy and loved Italian food and wine. She worked on the famous movie, Ben Hur, as the assistant to the producer and said she never liked Charlton Heston. She said he was arrogant.

Practically everyone I knew said the same thing about Peg - "When I grow up I want to be like Peg McIntire."

Visits with Peg at her home were always wonderful for me because she loved to cook pasta together and then eat out on her back patio. She was the slowest eater in the world and always complained that I didn't enjoy my food enough. When she came to Maine for a visit each summer she wanted a lobster and took her dear time eating every possible bit of meat on it.

In the end Peg was my friend, really more like a mother to me than even my own mother was. She supported me always, through my good times and bad. She saw the good in me even when I might wonder about it myself.

Peg touched lives in many corners as she was the most social person I've ever known. She had more friends in St. Augustine than probably any other person in that community. She was a treasure and the best ambassador the peace movement could ever hope for.

Peg lived to be an active 97, she was at a Memorial Day protest just last weekend, because she had a rich full life. She kept her mind focused and her body engaged with the living....she had no time to waste.

Peg will live forever on this Earth in the hearts of people all over the world. It was an honor to call her a friend.

You can see Peg's Obituary and personal blog at this link: http://pegmcintire.blogspot.com/