Margaret 'Peggy' Draper Hash, 93

Margaret “Peggy” Draper Hash, 93, died on May 21, 2013.

She was born Dec. 7, 1919, in Pylesville, Md., a sibling of five to Bessie Alma Draper and Robert Julene Draper. She attended grade school in Delta, Pa., and graduated from Slate Ridge High School in 1937.

After high school she attended Strayer, Bryant and Stratton Business College in Baltimore. She was employed at the Delta National Bank and then worked in personnel at the Edgewood Arsenal in Edgewood, Md.

While there, she met her husband, Charles L. Hash, an Air Force veteran attending undergraduate school at Johns Hopkins University. They were married in Bel Air, Md., in 1946. It was a westward journey as Charles and Peggy drove their 1936 Ford Phaeton to Missoula where Charles attended law school. While in Missoula, Peggy worked for the U.S. Forest Service. From there, they moved to San Francisco where Charles was a law clerk. In 1952, they returned to Montana and settled in Kalispell. As Charles was starting his law practice, Peggy worked for the Montana State Forest Department.

Home and family were important to Peggy, and so it was in Kalispell that she placed her roots to start a family with Charles. Her love and devotion as a wife and mother were expressed in many ways throughout the rest of her life. Peggy and Charles enjoyed their many friends in the Flathead community. Her close friends were important to her. Whether hosting a Democratic gathering, playing bridge, fishing and camping or chasing the "elusive morel mushroom," Peggy embraced a Montana lifestyle.

Motherhood was Peggy’s true passion. Her devotion and commitment to her children were expressed throughout her life. Volunteering for school and church activities, baking for ski weekends at Big Mountain, and camping with family and friends at Spotted Bear and Seeley Lake were some of her most memorable times. In summers she often took her children to her childhood home back east to visit her family and relish in the joy of eating Maryland crabs.

During recent years disabilities prevented her from the travel and family vacations that she once enjoyed. She was still able to watch her grandchildren, Nicholas and Meagan, play sports and perform in school activities. Staying at home, she received assistance from many special caregivers and another family was formed.

Her heart was in her home and with her family.

She is survived by her son, Mark and his wife, Tere, and their children, Meagan, Nicholas and his wife, Nicole, and great-granddaughter Emery; daughter, Sarah “Sally” and husband, Dan Savage; brothers, Robert Draper and Ralph Draper; and sister, Hazel Thompson.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Charles L. Hash; and her sister, Edith McLaughlin.

Friends of the family wishing to make gifts in her memory may consider the Hockaday Museum of Art or the Museum at Central School, both in Kalispell.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. on Thursday, May 30, at Epworth United Methodist Church in Kalispell. A reception  will immediately follow at the church.