Margaret "Peg" Cheshire

Margaret "Peg" Cheshire A member of the El Castillo community in Santa Fe since 1998, died in the apartment she loved early Sunday morning, May 4, 2008. She was looking forward to the upcoming week's visit from he daughter, and to hosting two parties she and her daughter had been planning. Party invitations and a letter she had written to a friend from college days were placed where she would remember to bring them with her at Sunday lunch. She stood up, and was gone in an instant. Peg was born in Ely, MN on September 16, 1920. She, her sister, and parents lived in the home her grandfather had built. Her mother, a graduate of the University of Chicago and a teacher in Ely and her father, owner of a local lumber company, encouraged Peg's education in music. She received undergraduate and graduate degrees from Oberlin College, studied at Julliard, and later taught at Oberlin before continuing her teaching career with the Los Angeles City College Music Department. Best-known for being gregarious, outgoing, and a perfectionist, she loved to learn. She was in the process of becoming the top salesperson for her daughter's fledgling jewelry venture. A pianist who played for occasions at El Castillo, she was asked by a friend to "play for my funeral," and she replied, "But I might go first…. And if so, I will have learned to play the harp!" In 1999, she was designated an "honorary Kentuckian" by her Kentucky friends while she was vacationing there. The ceremony required her to don a buckskin jacket, shoot a long gun, throw a tomahawk, and chew tobacco, all of which she did. Her daughter looks forward to receiving the photographic evidence of this heretofore unknown adventure of her mother's. Her daughter and her friends at El Castillo and in Santa Fe, celebrated her life in the El Castillo Community Room on May 9. The cake was chocolate, and the inscription read "Have a good time with Stravinsky!" A celebration of her life will also take place in Los Angeles where her ashes will be interred at the VA National Cemetery beside those of her second husband, Mike Cheshire. She is survived by her sister, Pat McMahan; her nephews, Chris and Jon; her daughter, Maureen; and many friends and former students. Keyboard musician, teacher, and Honorary Kentuckian: Here's to you, Mom! Thanks for the opportunities, the music, and especially, for the memories. Arrangements are under the direction of Berardinelli Family Funeral Service 1399 Luisa Street Santa Fe, NM 87505 (505) 984-8600