Peg Redmond Leavitt

Peg Redmond Leavitt, a woman of elegance and grace, died after a brief illness on March 3, 2014, in Portland Maine. A resident of Maine for over 30 years, Peg and her husband Earle lived on Neal Street in Portland from 1982 to 2012, when they moved into the Atrium at the Cedars. Peg leaves her husband Earle, one son, four daughters, four step-sons, sixteen grandchildren, and six great grandchildren; as well as two sisters and two brothers. She was the gentle matriarch of this large clan. The oldest of five children, Peggy Redmond was born on October 24, 1920, to pioneer parents and was raised on a farm on the plains of Alberta, Canada. Snow, wind, and cold notwithstanding, she and her siblings rode a horse to the one-room Saddle Hills School, which her father had organized and built and at which her mother taught. From this frontier upbringing, Peg learned to take for granted hard work, the beauty and harshness of Mother Nature, and the importance of learning. Peg completed high school in Edmonton, attended the University of Alberta, and was trained as a registered nurse, earning the President's Gold Medal as the outstanding nursing student at the University. While in Edmonton, she met and married Dugald S. Arbuckle, also from Alberta, who was serving in the Royal Canadian Air Force. Their first child, Donald, was born in 1945. After the war, they lived in the U.S., where Dugald attended the University of Chicago, earning a PhD in 1948. Twin daughters Margaret and Mary were born in 1946. Peg's young family then moved to Sharon, Massachusetts where Dugald was a professor at Boston University. In 1952 and 1953, daughters Jane and Judith were born. Peg raised her five children in Sharon. Every several years, the family packed up and drove west to Alberta, often by circuitous routes that eventually took them to almost every one of the continental United States, all of the National Parks, and the Provinces of Canada. On one occasion, Peg invited three of the children's friends to accompany them, stuffing their green, 1960 Chevy station wagon with children, books, and duffle bags. The family also skied at Mount Sunapee and Sugarloaf, sometimes leaving at 4:00am to drive to Sugarloaf (before Interstates 93 or 95), skiing all day (as long as the lifts ran), then driving back home to Sharon that same day. During the Sharon years, Peg returned to school at Boston University, completing her BA in Sociology in May 1968; an MA in Counselor Education in August 1968, and 40 hours toward a PhD by 1970. She was also elected to the Sharon School Committee, and served as chair from 1967 to 1969. After a separation and divorce, Peg married Earle Leavitt in June 1972. Peg became the step-mother to Earle's four sons: Donald, James, Robert, and Dana. Peg and Earle settled in Hingham Mass where she worked as a guidance counselor at Hingham High School. After several years they moved to Beekman Place in New York City. In 1982, Peg and Earle returned to New England where they found a spacious, John Calvin Stephens town house in Portland's West End. This home served for the next 30 years as the base for family birthdays, holidays, and other get-togethers for Peg's expanding family. Peg's nine children brought sixteen grandchildren into her warm embrace: Jennifer Arbuckle Loeswick, Ben Arbuckle, Michael Arbuckle, Erik Kankainen, Elizabeth Kankainen, Nicholas McDougal, Quincy McDougal, Caitlin Gerber, Rebecca Gerber, Margaret Gerber, William Arbuckle, Alex Arbuckle, Catherine Leavitt McDougal, Peter Leavitt, Vickie Leavitt, and Jackie Leavitt. Six great-grandchildren were fortunate enough to be loved by Peg: Abigail Arbuckle, Claire Arbuckle, Isabella Loeswick, Lillian Loeswick, Jake Loeswick, and Payson McDougal. Her husband Earle and these thirty-one progeny, husbands and wives will miss her luminous presence and the cocoon of safety and affection within whose warm embrace she wrapped them all. Peg and Earle traveled widely, in the U.S. and Canada, and in Europe. She never lost the wonder of new places and people. She was continually interested in the world around her, particularly the beauty of Maine and its wildlife. She often visited her daughter Margaret and son-in-law Michael at their home in Kingfield Maine, or their camp on Hancock Pond; or her daughter Jane's Eaton Island in Penobscot Bay. She was a life-long reader, consuming prodigious numbers of books on every conceivable subject, including many a curious volume of forgotten lore which she insisted on finishing no matter how ponderous and tiresome. She loved music and art. The Portland Museum of Art served as a focal point for her appreciation of the arts in Portland, including its Sunday jazz concerts where she came to love the subtle piano of Tom Snowe. She served as a docent at the museum for fifteen years. Peg Redmond Leavitt struck everyone she met with her beauty, her graciousness and serenity, and her intelligence. She loved her husband and her children, grand-children, and great-grandchildren with an affection so deep that it will nurture them for the rest of their lives. She was a patron of the fine arts who loved the luxuriance of great painting, sculpture, and music, and who was addicted to the power of the written word. But she was also a quiet, sneaky adventuress who was not deterred by mud, mosquitos, ticks, cold, rain, or snow if they stood between her and a view of storm waves at Two Lights or Portland Head; the arrival of the first warblers in the spring foliage of Falmouth; a sunrise from Mount Desert; or the beauty of New Zealand's Milford Trek. In New York City, she loved to wander the neighborhoods of Manhattan watching the sidewalk human drama, the chaotic streets with their wild, bellicose taxi cabs, or the astonishing magnitude of the architectural canyons. When she could not walk easily any more, she was excited simply to drive around Portland to see what there was to see. Her eyes would brighten; her mouth would curve in a half-smile. Her lesson to us all is that the world is a remarkable place if you take the time to look around; and, most of what we worry about is not really very important. For those whom she leaves behind, however, she was supremely important. Peg's family would like to thank Dr. Robert Fraser for providing such competent and compassionate medical care to Peg over the many years he served as her general practitioner, as well as his care during the final days of her life. They would also like to thank Drs. Joel Botler and Yasmin Mahal for their kindness during Peg's last illness. A celebration of Peg's life will be held at the home of Judith Arbuckle, 125 Vaughan Street, Portland Maine, on Saturday May 31, 2014 at 1:00pm. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Peg's name to the Portland Museum of Art.Online condolences may be expressed below.