- Date Of Death: February 9, 2017
- State: New Mexico
Margaret (Peggy) Helen Gerety passed away on February 9th, 2017, three days after her 94th birthday. She left this life in her North Valley home of the last four decades, in the company of many members of her family, her dog Lilly, and her wonderful caregivers.
Peggy Schneider was born on February 6, 1923, in Joliet, Illinois, the only child of Frederick Roberts Schneider and Helen Cecilia (Riley) Schneider. Her father’s work as a machinist with Burroughs Equipment Company provided the family a good living through the depression years and took the family to nearly every corner of the country during Peggy’s childhood: they lived in Joliet and Chicago, Illinois; Albany, New York; Bridgeport, Connecticut; Kalamazoo, Michigan; Reno, Nevada; and Los Angeles, California. The frequent moves made Peggy the perennial “newcomer,” and intensified her natural love of animals, with the family dog becoming, in her words, her “constant companion and closest friend.” Wherever they roamed, the Schneider family also spent time exploring the great outdoors-hunting, fishing, clamming, birding, and camping. The love of nature that these expeditions inspired stayed with Peggy until the very end, when she still spent hours sitting outside, admiring the perfect New Mexican weather and the mountain view from her home.
She learned to ride horses, in Connecticut when she was thirteen. In high school, living in Reno, she got her own horse, Comanche, and learned the pleasure of Western riding in open spaces. By the time Peggy graduated from Reno High School in 1940, she was an expert horsewoman. She spent the next few years breaking the hearts of many young suitors while working as a bookkeeper for a local drug store. Then, as war broke out around the world, Peggy decided to forge her own path and at age 20, became the youngest woman from Nevada to enlist in the Marine Corps. On December 27, 1943, she went on to became the youngest female officer commissioned in the Corps. It was while stationed at Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, California that, in the Spring of 1944, she met her best and last suitor-a handsome young fighter pilot from Shelton, Connecticut. Lt. Edward Joseph Gerety (Peggy called him simply “Gerety” in her letters to him during their courtship) won Peggy over with his Irish charm-and an airplane ride or two-and on September 4, 1945, Peggy married her handsome pilot at the Camp Pendleton chapel. They were both in full uniform.
After leaving the Marine Corps, Peggy moved, now as Mrs. Peggy Gerety, to Fairfield, Connecticut. There she managed to navigate not only her new marriage, but Ed’s seven brothers and large extended family. During this transition, she relied on-and enjoyed the company and support of-her new mother- and sisters-in-law. While living with Ed’s parents, they started their family and life together, and Ed returned to the construction business. He built their first house on Beach Road, where they lived, accumulating three sons (Edward Jr., Michael, and Richard) while Ed started back to college in preparation for medical school. Peggy also took college courses, in part to learn, and in part so her GI bill fund could help support the family. By the time Ed was done with medical school, they had two other children (Meghan and Mark), and two more (Moira and Brigid) came shortly after-bringing their grand total to seven children.
Peggy lived life to the fullest. After moving to Albuquerque, she returned to school to study Art History. She volunteered for the League of Women Voters, working on water and land issues in New Mexico. After she and Ed could finally build their dream house with stables in 1969, she returned to her roots as a horsewoman, becoming one of the founding members of the Juan Tomas Hounds, and riding regularly into her 80s. She learned to ski at Sandia Peak and skied into her 80s. She played tennis. She swam. She hiked. She was always ready to go and always enjoyed herself, making many fast friends in the over 50 years she spent in Albuquerque, and continuing friendships with many more from the different parts of her life. Those lucky enough to count Peggy as a friend invariably felt better for the experience, something they demonstrated by keeping in touch throughout their lives. Indeed, Peggy was the last survivor of a group of eight friends, the “D8,” that started when she was in 8th grade and kept in touch for over eight decades.
Peggy taught her children how to live life with poise and strength. She shouldered life’s burdens with quiet determination, taking care of obligations-“first things first”-but always leaving enough time to hit the slopes, go on the hunt, meet up with friends, and then go home to read a good book.
Monday, February 13th, 2017, 9:30am, Aquinas Newman Center
Monday, February 13th, 2017, 10:00am, Aquinas Newman Center
