DR. PEGGY BISSELL MD.

I want to start this obituary of my beloved wife, step mom to Guy and Zoe and step nana to Willow, good friend to many and a caring doctor, with the first paragraph of a message she posted on Facebook on October 23, just two weeks before her death. She received over 50 loving and generous responses from this post.

"To my friends I have loved and love still, this is my song. In this time of gifts my thoughts and my love are with everyone who reads this. Some of you have been my friends, helping me through times harder than I could have imagined. Some of you have challenged me and helped to shape my life by those challenges. Some of you are, to me, joy personified. I am full of gratitude that I have walked the same earth with you and that includes even those I do not know. All of you have made this world and it would not be possible without each and everyone one of you. Bless you each and every one."

Peggy was born in Bremerton, WA on the 24th of September, 1950 to parents Eddis Bissell and Molly Morris. Her parents met shortly after the Second World War, her father having left a farm life in Arkansas to serve in the Navy and her mother, whose grandparents had settled in the Northwest via the Oregon Trail. Her mother also served in the military as a W.A.A.F., teaching instrument flying to trainee pilots.

Her parents divorced in 1955 and Peggy and her elder sister (now estranged) lived on ranches with their mother, who worked as a live-in housekeeper. During this period, her mother became a member of the Jehovah Witness cult. Peggy's formative years were affected by their teachings.

In the early 60's, the family moved to Denver where Peggy finished her schooling. Luckily, as she was very intelligent and an outstanding pupil, Peggy won a scholarship to Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts and with financial help from her grandmother, she broke away from the Jehovah Witnesses and went first to Mount Holyoke from 1968-1971, then moved to Dartmouth University, graduating with a BA in 1972. She then commenced studying medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, receiving her M.D. in 1983.

Her first job was an Internship and Residency at Central Massachusetts Medical Center, where she became Board Certified in Internal Medicine in 1987. From 1987-1996 she work in emergency medicine at Springfield Hospital. From 1996-1997 she added Internal Medicine to her work at Springfield. During this time, she made a number of trips to the wilderness in Canada and Alaska.

In 1997 on a trip to Bermuda, she met a Bermudian and decided to relocate to Bermuda to marry and start her own practice. The marriage did not happen. But her own practice in internal medicine flourished. She was simultaneously working as a hospice physician and studying to become Board certified in Palliative Medicine which she achieved through Harvard Medical School.

After six years of working in Bermuda, Peggy had a yearning to return to the Northwest and initiated contacts to move. At this time, she also met her future husband (me) who was also living in Bermuda, working as an architect and artist. We then decided to move together to the Northwest. Peggy arrived in Skagit County in late 2003 and started working for Skagit Valley Medical Center as Internal Medicine Specialist. I followed in early 2004 and we were married on the 18th of December 2004.

Peggy worked for Skagit Valley Medical Center in Mount Vernon for 4 years, and then transferred to the Pavilion next to Sedro Woolley Hospital where she worked until 2012 when her cancer was diagnosed. After initial chemo treatment and a double mastectomy, Peggy was thought to be in remission and returned to work in August 2013. Unfortunately the cancer returned and for medical reasons, Peggy retired in early 2015. She had always been a much loved and appreciated doctor and she and her patients were very disappointed by her departure.

In the autumn of 2005, we (Peggy and Jon) had purchased a farm in Bow, in which we now live and where Peggy passed away peacefully on the evening of Sunday, November 8, 2020. Peggy loved her "FARM", and was never happier than when working in the garden, especially in her vegetable garden. If not in the garden, then she was in the house, canning and drying produce, concocting and discovering recipes and all the things that make country life so enjoyable and satisfying. One of her main joys in the last few years was walking with Nigel, our tenant's Labrador, around the property whilst throwing his ball and singing "Nigel" songs "Nigel is a Puppy Dog", etc., etc. Peggy would walk a mile and Nigel would run 10. They both loved it.

Another of Peggy's joys was hiking, whenever she could get a companion. She was only too happy to go through the woods and up mountains. Unfortunately this activity went to the wayside in the later stages of her illness, but she was always happy to go for a walk on Samish Island and at Deception Pass when this was possible.

Peggy was always a spiritual person, but not religious. A Unitarian from her days in Boston, she started attending the Skagit UU Fellowship in 2008 where she was very active and beloved member of the fellowship. Peggy was also involved in Mindfulness, being introduced to it by John and Jeanie Magee whom she had met in Bermuda. Peggy was an avid reader, never entering a bookshop without coming out with some new gem. Her reading was very varied and she was always filling copious notebooks with passages which caught her attention. Whether spiritual, comic or poetry, it was a bit like the many garden and cooking notes that she kept in many files.

When we first arrived in Skagit County, Peggy met Barbara Gilday, a unitarian chaplain who was working as hospital chaplain in Mount Vernon. It was Barbara who married us at Blanchard Chapel in 2004. Barbara, always a close friend of Peggy's, has been an absolute rock in these last weeks of Peggy's illness and was with me when Peggy passed. We both owe her an enormous debt of gratitude. Another friend from her SVH days was Sue Watson, then the librarian at the hospital, who has been a steadfast friend with whom she shared her love of gardening.

Our thanks also go out to the oncologists, Dr. Kim and Dr. Kojouri, and the rest of the dedicated staff at Mount Vernon Cancer Care who have been with Peggy for 8 years. Also our thanks go to the nurses and doctors at Hospice of the Northwest who have looked after Peggy for her last two months. Finally we thank Visiting Angels, who stepped in quickly to help with care in the last difficult two weeks.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be given to Humane Society of Skagit Valley, 18841 Kelleher Road, Burlington, WA 98233, from where her beloved cats came from, or to Hospice of the Northwest, 227 Freeway Dr., Suite A, Mount Vernon, WA 98273, who have cared for her in her last months. (May they long remain a non-profit organization.)

Family, friends and former patients may sign an online registry and leave notes at www.kernfuneralhome.com.

I would like to give Peggy the last word, with the second paragraph of her final email letter.
"I almost never post anything personal but here I have something I want you to know. I am on hospice, fortunately here at home on the farm. Eight years ago, I was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer. Initially I did very well. Then, 5 years ago it returned. Over the past 8 years, I have had 13 lines of treatment, which includes 2 clinical trials in Seattle. When I progressed this last time, they told me there aren't any more good treatment choices for me. Since then, hospice has been working with me and I feel better than I've felt for months. We've had conversation today and they've told me that my disease is advancing and I may well be in the final stage. You are all very dear to me and I want to be sure you all know that.'"
Jon Mills, Husband