LELAND- Marguerite “PEG” Krehbiel Meeker of Leland has died at the end of a very long and fruitful life. Her love and respect for those who went before her shaped her into the caring and thoughtful person she strived to be and her love and care for those behind her made her the matriarch and foundation that she was for her entire family and community. She will be missed, but more importantly she placed in all of us pieces of herself that will live on and bloom in us as well. Her seed is planted and it will produce fruit in her death as it did in her life.

Peg was born on March 24, 1927, in Cincinnati, Ohio to Robert and Marguerite Krehbiel. She grew up with three siblings and a large extended family. She graduated from Western College in Oxford, Ohio where she played field hockey and attained a teaching degree. She met Walter “Bo” Meeker of Troy, Ohio and they married in 1952 when he was in medical school in the University of Cincinnati. Their first child, Marguerite White, was born in Cincinnati. During Bo’s surgical training at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, Ohio their second and third children, Walter Meeker and Nancy Hunt were born. In 1959 Peg and Bo moved to Troy, Ohio, Bo’s hometown, joining his whole family. Their fourth child Elizabeth “Betsy” McCallister was born in Troy. They enjoyed life there for 37 years until Bo’s death in 1996.

In 1997 Peg moved to their summer cottage in Leland and was a year-round Leland resident since that time, joined by her family who are also located there in some way. Her 30 years in Leland have been as productive and fruitful as were her almost equally divided pre-Troy and Troy years.

She has been a devoted daughter, a sister of three, a lover of one, a wife of one, a mother of four, a grandmother of 16, a great grandmother of 32, all of whom have remembered birthdays when they receive handwritten cards from her. Among her greatest errors, which she made great efforts to avoid, was forgetting one of these.

Gardening caught the excess of her caring. No rootlet, stem, or flower was beyond notice or missed the opportunity to show its potential. Her gardening was more emergency rehabilitation than creative design. Her garden was a rescue mission and bloomed with the beauty of her care.

She was a competitive bridge player that had the misfortune to never get a good hand. She was a friend with a most dependable hand. Her friendships, which were many, took effort and interest and returned richness that she cherished and attended to as she did her family. She never overestimated herself, giving all of us room to see her true value. She was a Christian and a Patriot, both of which went to her bone. Like two children, when these were locked in conflict, they were hard to separate. Almost never missing church throughout her life, attending or remote, faith and all of its uncertainties, never off her radar, set the rhythm of her life.

She claimed she never understood but she did believe. Oh, how she did believe. It was the steel that ran through her being and connected all the parts which we are blessed to be among.

She was preceded by many, survived by many but exceeded by none.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, May 2nd at 11 AM at the Leland Community United Methodist Church, 106 4th St, Leland, MI 49654. The service can be viewed at the YouTube channel of the Leland Community United Methodist Church. Pastor Tim Woycik will officiate. A reception at the Leland Lodge will follow.

Memorial gifts, if so desired, may be directed to Leelanau Christian Neighbors https://leelanauchristianneighbors.org/ donate-gift/ Please share condolences and memories with Peg’s family at www.martinson.info Arrangements are with the Martinson Funeral Home and Cremation Services of Leelanau.