The life of “Peg” Clemons was a blessed one. She was born Margaret Ann Ferris on February 18, 1941 in Quincy, Massachusetts to parents who emigrated from Northern Ireland and from Scotland when they were both young. They instilled in “Peggy” a strong work ethic, excellent organizational skills, a green thumb, and a great sense of humor. She grew up playing at Wollaston Beach only steps away from their house on Apthorp Street. She and her life-long friend Carol snuck snacks from each other’s kitchens and a shared messages between their two houses only a driveway apart.

Peg attended North Quincy High school, followed by undergraduate studies at Eastern Nazarene College. She earned her Master’s in Education from Northeastern, specializing in Math and Science. In college she developed a curiosity to learn about other cultures. She began yearning for travel.

During summers Peg worked as a camp counselor. She also enjoyed trips to her family’s camp in Brewster which would later become the site of her parents’ retirement home.

Peg’s first teaching position was in Hanson, Massachusetts. It was there where she first met two of her future brother-in-laws as pupils in her classroom. A coworker, Bea McGregor suggested that she come to dinner one night to meet her husband’s fishing companion, Paul. From that meeting a sixty-two year relationship blossomed. Paul introduced her to the outdoors; took her canoeing, fishing, mushrooming, and collecting frog specimens for research at the Woods Hole Institute. Peg continued teaching while Paul enrolled to study Biology at Eastern Nazarene College. Several years later in expectation of their son Tom, they set up their first home in Pembroke, Massachusetts. When Paul got accepted to pursue his Master’s at Temple the family moved to an apartment in Philadelphia. Just before he graduated they welcomed their daughter Lucy.

As the South Shore of Massachusetts was already crowded from the farms and cranberry bogs that they grew up with, Paul and Peg looked elsewhere to raise their family. Paul was offered a position with the State Health Department in Vermont. They found a home in Peacham, where Peg located a teaching position. In the years that followed they raised chickens, sheep, a couple cows, a goat, and even a pig named “Creampuff.” She had a very green thumb. Her kitchen was always filled with houseplants, and she helped teach her kids how to garden. She loved bottle feeding the lambs, crafting, baking bread, and hosting taffy pulling and sledding parties in the winter.

Peg had an impulsive sense of adventure. She enrolled to get her pilot’s license and would have finished if they had not suffered a setback when they had a house fire. It was her also idea to buy a Volkswagen camper for road trips. She discovered the cottage in Prince Edward Island listed “For Sale” on a country store bulletin board. She immediately launched a road trip expedition with the kids to check it out. In PEI, she taught them clamming and an appreciation for fresh seafood. She bought whatever the local catch was directly from the harbor fishing boats.

Peg was an active community member. She sang soprano in the church choir and North Country Chorus for more than forty years. She was a long-time member of Women’s Fellowship group, and Peacham Historical Society. She taught in area schools for over thirty-four years.

Peg finally travelled abroad for the first time to Ireland in the mid seventies. She went on to travel the world, planning many of the itineraries herself. From road trips in their Volkswagen camper to Canada, to Costa Rica, China, The Galapagos, Italy, Poland, Scandinavia, and Tasmania she fulfilled a life-long dream to see the world from other perspectives.

Peg had a warm heart filled with kindness and concern for others in need. She had an easy laugh and smile. She filled her life and lives of those around her with beautiful memories.

Peg passed away on September 4, 2026 after a brief, unexpected illness at Portsmouth Regional Hospital in New Hampshire. She is greatly missed by her husband Paul, her dog Maggie, her son Tom, his wife Bernice, her daughter Lucy, her Grandchildren and Great Grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers and gifts please direct donations to either the:

Peacham Congregational Church

email: peachamchurchinformation@gmail.com

56 Church Street

PO Box 205Peacham, VT 05862

Or

Peacham Volunteer Fire Department

64 Macks Mountain Rd.

P.O. Box 112

Peacham, Vermont 05862-0112802-592-3392

E-mail: pvfd@peachamfiredepartment.com