13-May-1925 - 01-May-2022
If it had been up to Peggy Withers, the dishwashing machine would never have been invented.
Peggy, who died May 1, 2022, only a dozen days short of her 97th birthday, didn’t have much use for work-saving devices around the house. What many view as drudgery, Peggy saw as a labour of love, her way of expressing her devotion to her family. And with Peggy, family always came first.
In addition to being a loving wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, Peggy was a homemaker, a term that’s fallen into disuse, but a role she embraced. And what a warm, loving home Peggy made.
The fifth of Norman and Rose Seifried’s 12 children, Peggy was born in 1925. Growing up in farm country in southern Ontario, she met Stu Withers at a dance in Guelph, Ont., shortly after the tall, slim, handsome serviceman returned from Europe. They were married in 1947, the year they moved north to Wyebridge. There they raised a family of three while Stu operated a garage and Peggy ran a snack bar, which became the focal point of the community for young and old. When she wasn’t whipping up ice-cream floats for Wyebridge Warriors’ softball-victory celebrations, Peggy did the bookkeeping, gardened and pitched in at Women’s Institute suppers. This was, of course, on top of preparing family meals, house cleaning and Florence Nightingaling everyone through the flu, toothaches, scraped knees and bee stings.
If you knew Peggy, you knew about her unwavering positive spirit and Christian faith. No matter how bad things got, Peggy was certain that everything would work out and goodness would prevail – if not in this world, the next.
If you knew Peggy, you knew how focused she was on helping others. Peggy was always much more comfortable serving people than being served. She always found time to visit shut-ins and make soup for the soup kitchen. With her phone calls, birthday cards and encouraging words, Peggy was the one who kept everything together.
Peggy might not have shared Stu’s passion for cars, but they were totally in sync when it came to dancing, gliding across the floor like a taller version of Fred Astaire and a more petite Ginger Rogers. Similarly, on those all-too-rare times when they sang together, Stu and Peggy harmonized beautifully, especially on Down by the Old Mill Stream.
Despite suffering from dementia in her final years, Peggy lived a long, loving life, and she left a treasure trove of happy memories for all who knew her.
Margaret (Peggy) Seifried Withers (1925-2022) was predeceased by Stuart, her husband of 55 years; parents Norman and Rose Seifried; and siblings Charlie, Marie, Emma, George, Rose, Joe, Jim, Grace and Doug. She is survived by son Jim (Winnie), daughters Liz (Dave) and Elaine; grandchildren Jason Dennis, Amy LeBlanc (Adam), Michael LeBlanc (Claudia) and Ben LeBlanc (Katherine); great-grandchildren Cieran, Taylor, Hannah, Austin, Roxy, Bailey and Kyla; and sisters Catherine Grominsky and Therese Bruder. She will be lovingly remembered by nieces, nephews and friends.
A celebration of Peggy’s life will be held at the Wyebridge Community Centre on Saturday, May 28, from 2 to 4 p.m. A small ceremony led by Bonnie Reynolds will commence at 3 p.m.
Those wishing to, can honour Peggy by making a donation to the Church of the Good Shepherd Cemetery Board by cheque
c/o Bonnie Reynolds,
8420 Highway 93,
Tiny, ON,
L4R 0E3
