Margaret “Peggy” Spencer Chase February 16, 1945 – December 1, 2023

Margaret “Peggy” Spencer Chase (otherwise known as “Jammie,” as she often preferred to be called since becoming a grandmother 19 years ago) was born in Sterling, Kansas on February 16th, 1945 to her father Newton “Newt” Kimball Chase and her mother Elizabeth “Betty” Kilbourn. She was the second of four children, preceded by her sister Edith “Edie” Lord Chase, and followed by her two brothers, Nelson Kilbourn Chase and Newton Kimball Chase, Jr.

Peggy’s parents met at The Thacher School, a then all boys boarding school, in Ojai, California prior to WWII where Newt was hired to teach Latin and History and Betty served as the school nurse. They were married prior to Newt’s enlistment in the army and service as an officer in China. While he was away Betty returned to her home in Sterling, Kansas, where Peggy was born. The Chase family eventually returned to Ojai where Newt became headmaster of the Thacher School in 1949. As a girl, Peggy may not have been able to attend Thacher, but she was steeped in its culture: meals at the dining hall with students and staff, learning to ride and care for the horses on campus, and taking part in many of the Thacher traditions she would later share with her children. Two favorites were the Thanksgiving tradition of making “candy animals” (constructing elaborate creatures out of oddly-shaped vegetables with toothpicks, marshmallows, parsley, and gumdrops) and Victorian parlor games (pass the orange under your chin or pass the cucumber with your knees, both of which were a hilarious hit at Peggy’s daughter Edie’s wedding years many year later). In the summers her folks ran a camp called Silver Pines in the Trinity Alps 40 miles east of Redding, California. She spoke of those summers with so much fondness. As a small child, she apparently fell off a high sleeping loft at the camp, and she liked to claim that the resulting head injury was why she was always misplacing her keys, phone, or glasses!

As a child, Peggy insisted she was not going to go to kindergarten with “all those babies!” Her parents relented, and she jumped straight into the first grade at the San Antonio School and then off to the Ojai Valley School for grades six through eight. She attended and graduated with academic honors from the Katherine Branson School in Marin County, California and then headed East to study English at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. After graduation Peggy moved back to California with the intention of attending graduate school. She briefly taught Latin and grammar at the Ojai Valley School, and soon met Tim Carey who was teaching at The Thacher School. They were married in Thacher’s outdoor chapel a few years later. Peggy

and Tim moved East to live in Middlebury and then Cornwall, Vermont. While there, Peggy worked at the Counseling Service of Addison County where she ran Big Brothers Big Sisters and helped develop innovative programs such as a Teen Center, Friendly Visitors (teens visiting the elderly) and Women Organized for Work, which supported women entering the workforce.

Peggy and Tim hosted many raucous potluck dinner parties in their Cornwall farmhouse, many of which involved hats and costumes and lots of laughter. She, Tim, and their friends also performed in several local theater productions in town. In 1972 they had their first daughter, Elizabeth Farr Carey, and then Edith “Edie” Chase Carey followed in 1974. Shortly thereafter they relocated to Massachusetts, eventually settling in Dedham.

Peggy attended graduate school at Boston College and received her Master’s degree in Social Work. For several years, she worked for New England Telephone Company in the Employee Assistance Program, focusing on substance abuse issues. Peggy later joined Work Family Directions and was an impassioned expert in her field. She once lent her expertise to a piece about work/life balance on Tom Brokaw’s NBCNightlyNews. She spent many years providing management training around work/life balance, coping with stress, substance abuse, and effective communication in the workplace, most recently for ComPsych and Balancing Life’s Issues. She also derived great pleasure from her work with Embark’s CRAFT program supporting and assisting families dealing with substance issues. She identified deeply as a social worker in every aspect of her life.

In 1978, Peggy recognized her alcohol addiction and she found a great deal of affinity with and comfort in A.A. and the community it created for her throughout her life and in all the places where she lived. Over the course of her 45 years of sobriety, Peggy supported countless people on their own recovery journeys. She was always a willing and open-hearted resource for anyone struggling with alcohol or drugs and was always meeting with or calling friends or friends of friends in need of support. She deeply loved being of service, and was often a fearless advocate for others and was never afraid to speak the truth.

Peggy was married to her second husband, Dick Barry, from 1984-1992. She adored his three children: Mark, Brian and Kim, their spouses and his grandchildren: Brendan, Maura, Mark Jr. and Steven.

In 1992 Peggy relocated to Littleton, Colorado, where she later met Tony Mueller. They moved to Boulder, Colorado and were married in their backyard. They later moved back to Peggy’s roots, just down the road from her childhood home in Ojai, CA. She and Tony enjoyed a

bi-coastal life between Ojai and Wiscasset, Maine for many years.

Peggy moved to Colorado Springs in 2017 and built a life around her youngest grandchildren, Luca and Emmy, while continuing to make frequent visits East to spend time with Farr’s children Sadie and James. She helped care for Emmy and Luca in the afternoons when Edie was away performing and, together with Edie’s husband Matthew, unquestionably made Edie’s music life possible.

Peggy loved all four of her grandchildren more than anything and made it a priority to be an

integral part of their lives. Whenever “Jammie” was around, it was a full-on snuggle fest. She had a devoted relationship with each of them and always told them she loved them “to the moon and back.”

Peggy lived a vibrant life and was at the heart of any gathering. Her infectious laugh and sense of humor always enlivened every room she entered. Dancing was her “jam”, and she would come to life whenever Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock and Roll” came on the radio, exclaiming “this is one of the all-time great tunes!” When Farr and Edie were small, they were delighted when she would “dance” them, picking them up and swinging them around the living room to favorites like “Celebrate” by Kool and the Gang or “Hurts So Good” by John Mellencamp. These dance parties usually involved eating a massive pile of salted popcorn from a huge yellow antique bowl with an entire stick of butter melted into it, and likely contained more than its fair share of pet hair, due to her ever-growing menagerie of quirky cats.

Peggy was never happier than when she was able to connect with those around her. She had an unusual gift of staying connected to everyone she met and was deeply interested in their lives. She loved sending thoughtful cards written in her distinctive handwriting and gifts often wrapped in linen and antique ribbon. She was drawn to old objects full of character and delighted in exploring antique shops whenever she had the chance. Peggy believed in making things beautiful, welcoming and cozy, including all the homes in which she lived. Those spaces reflected the warmth she exuded to all around her. So many people loved Peggy and those who had the pleasure of knowing her will miss her tremendously.

She is survived by her daughters, Farr Carey and Edie Carey, son-in-law Matthew Fitzsimmons, four grandchildren, Sadie and James Arnold and Luca and Emmy Fitzsimmons, and siblings: Edie Chase McDougal, Nelson Chase and his wife Cindy Strawbridge, Newton “Kim” Chase and his wife Cindy Chase, nieces: Cricket Damon, Faith Sykes, her husband Mike and their children Phoebe and Hewitt, Emilie Chase, Heather Rosenberg, her husband Jake and their children Leo and Chase, Teal Buetzow, her husband Eric and their daughter Lily, as well as many extended family, countless friends and her beloved cat, Edwin.

Memorial services will be planned for next summer.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Embark https://www.embarkpca.net/ (a substance abuse support program), Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region https://www.hsppr.org/ or

Care and Share Food Bank https://careandshare.org/ .