HIGHLANDS, NC: Ann G. Peavey died Friday, February 20, 2015 at the age of 96, (1918-2015) while a resident of The Eckerd Center at the Highlands-Cashiers Hospital in Highlands, NC. She was a previous resident of Lake Pointe Landing in Hendersonville, NC.
Born on July 11, 1918 in Springfield, MA, the former Ann Gordon Carman was the daughter of Ernest Westervelt Carman, a Harvard College and Harvard Law School attorney and Massachusetts legislator, and of Jessie Bailey Caton Carman, who had been a teacher of Latin and English in Boston. Ann grew up with her four siblings, in Springfield, MA. There she attended and graduated from Classical High School, studying Latin for four years, and singing in the chorus, along with John Peavey, who was three years older and at that point, not yet an acquaintance. Enrollment at American International College allowed her to continue her study of Latin for another four years, and, under the tutelage of Dr. Charles Gadaire, who had “made history come alive!”, to devote herself to her interest in English history leading to a B.A. in English History. After graduation in 1940, she worked at the Monarch Life Insurance Co. prior to marrying Lt. John Forrest Peavey USAR in November 1942.
Ann and her husband arrived in Westfield in 1955, where they raised four children on Chestnut Street. She was active in the Westfield Woman’s Club serving as president from 1968 to 1970. She served on the Westfield School Committee for two terms from 1969 to 1977, and worked as the co-manager of the Westfield State College book store from 1974 to 1977. As John approached retirement from the John H. Breck Co, manufacturers of the “Beautiful Hair Breck” line of hair preparations in West Springfield, Ann planned for life in a warmer climate.
Hendersonville, NC had been the destination for a romantic never-forgotten weekend with her husband on the eve of his departure for the Pacific in World War II. On that very weekend the young couple decided that they would in their golden years move to Hendersonville. And John and Ann Peavey were indeed able to retire there from Westfield in March 1981.
Here she was able to devote time to her other hobbies: genealogy, couture sewing, knitting and needlework. A Mayflower descendant and granddaughter of several Revolutionary War patriots, Ann was extremely active in the Mayflower Society and the Joseph McDowell Chapter of the NSDAR in Hendersonville. She was named North Carolina DAR State Historian in 1991 and then traveled the world assisting in the establishment of chapters abroad for expat members, as the National Vice Chairman-Genealogy for the Units Overseas Committee. This association and the wonderful friends she made were the highlights of her life.
Widowed after 64 years of marriage, Ann is survived by four children: William Forrest Peavey, a real estate investor in Highlands/Cashiers, NC and his wife Sheila Godwin Peavey; Michael Pendexter Peavey, a retired attorney and federal trustee in bankruptcy in Mt Pleasant, SC and his wife Edna Brown Tetterton Peavey; Louise Gordon Peavey Wesson, a Latin teacher in Blue Bell, PA and her husband Laurence Nathaniel Wesson; and Charles Carman Peavey, an aeronautical engineer and government consultant in Reston, VA and his wife Kara Kim Peavey; seven grandchildren: Windsor E.A. Peavey McAdams in San Jose, CA; Jonathan B.H. Peavey of Mt Pleasant, SC; Georgianna W. Wesson Rustell of Portsmouth, England; Ann G. Wesson Garau, Toronto, Canada; Alice G. Wesson, Plymouth Meeting, PA, Russell K. Peavey, Singapore and Sarah K. Peavey, Pasadena, CA, five great grand children Gabriel J.W. and Lucy C.G. McAdams, Katharine A.C. and Elizabeth L.A. Rustell, and William E.W. Garau, in addition to numerous nieces and nephews.
Ann was a magnificent role model for all her family, and a great source of pride for all her descendants..
She received exemplary care from the staff of Lake Pointe Landing in Hendersonville, The Eckerd Living Center in Highlands and Four Seasons Hospice and Palliative Care. Her family expresses gratitude for their loving care of Ann during the last two years of her life.
Funeral arrangements will be provided by Thos. Shepherd & Son with a memorial service at 11:00AM on July 3, 2015 at the First Congregational Church of Hendersonville, 1735 Fifth Avenue West, in Laurel Park, NC where Ann and John Peavey were long time members. Her ashes will be interred alongside his in the church Memorial Garden.
