Margaret "Peggy" Wilkes

Peggy Wilkes passed away January 6, 2022. She was predeceased by her lifetime partner and love, Gerald (Bud) Wilkes. She is survived by her six children: Sandy (Julie), Barbara (Dennis), Katherine (Dan), Marion (John), Jane (Norm), John (Irene), fifteen grandchildren, and six great- grandchildren.
Mom felt she had grown up quite privileged and used that to encourage and support her children, grandchildren and even great grandchildren, to be passionate in what they wanted to do, and go out and do it in whatever way possible. When Peggy chose to be at home with her children the working world was denied the talents Peggy possessed. She was inquisitive, resourceful, a team player, a change maker, loyal, a negotiator, and many more of the buzz words that we would use today in speaking about leadership. Fortunately for us our family gained that opportunity by Peggy’s choice of putting family first. She ensured these strong talents and traits were carried forward in her children and especially the women of her family including subsequent generations.
Peggy’s love of travel was solidified during her university years when she and friends travelled to the East coast and did a cycling trip around Cape Cod. After university she ventured with three school mates by car to Vancouver, south to California, and across to New Orleans. Even with her six children there were always adventures like day trips to Rockway, Dagmar, exploring rock mines, and summer trips to Canada’s East Coast and Cape Breton and to the North Shore of Lake Superior with a tent trailer in tow.
Mom never felt comfortable cooking, doing domestic work or sewing. But she did encouraged all of her children to cook even if it was baking cookies. She would turn meals over to us to create after she chose the menu. Sewing was passed to us through grandmothers while mom encouraged our abilities to build things like forts, climb trees, grow things, and explore our surroundings. Examples of these encouragements were Marion’s trips around Niagara-on-the- Lake and John’s discovery of a hermit in the Sudbury wilderness.
Peggy had a passion for arts and culture and was a voracious learner. She loved to read, she took courses on upholstery, researched antiques, did crossword and sudoku, and loved to attend the Shaw Theatre. Later, she became an avid Blue Jays fan starting the season by watching spring training in order to become familiar with the players names and their statistics.
Her gardens were her canvas and she and Bud worked to develop beautiful landscapes at their various homes as they moved throughout Bud’s career.
The family cottage in Haliburton was a very special place for Peggy. Family ties with the former owners, the comfort of being immersed in nature, family time, and the ability to let us kids explore ,create, and grow were just some of the reasons for the cottage being special. She was always at home in nature.
Peggy and Bud knew each other growing up and their love together continued throughout sixty-seven years of marriage. Family was everything to Peggy, with the inclusion of extended family every Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving. Peggy encouraged our friends to be part of gatherings, “the more the merrier” I think would have been one of her mottos.
Peggy Wilkes leaves a legacy of love and family connections. We couldn’t ask for anything more. She will always be in our hearts, thoughts, and actions.