Story Photos
 Peggy Bauman wears a dress she made for her brother's wedding in 1956. Courtesy of Bauman family
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Sunday Obituary: Mrs. Bauman found a lot to like and love
Sunday, September 7, 2008 1:07 AM PDT
By Leslie Slape
Printable version
E-mail this articlePeggy Rosemarie Bauman loved being busy.
She bowled in three leagues, she played golf, she loved traveling and playing cards.
She made all her kids' Halloween costumes by hand and even sewed tiny clothes for her five daughters' Barbies. She relished surrounding herself with family at the holidays and then playing pinochle after the little ones were in bed.
"She liked the casinos," and most of the time she had good luck, recalled her husband, Everett, of Longview.
"We had a condo down in Reno we'd go to a couple of times a year. She wasn't one to sit still. That's why when she had a stroke 4 1/2 years ago it really hurt her. She couldn't bowl, she couldn't golf, but she could still go to the casino and play pinochle."
Peggy, 71, almost managed to fight her way to survive until her 31st wedding anniversary, but she died one day short of it, on Aug. 21.
But "she had a good memory up to the end," Everett said.
Her tenacious spirit is one of the qualities her family remembers most about her. But right up there alongside it was how far she would go for her family, such as sewing the doll clothes and making certain Santa Claus paid her kids a personal visit.
"Every year when we were growing up we had to have Santa come to our house," recalled daughter Sara Bauman.
"She enjoyed her kids," her husband said. "We've got 15 grandkids and 16 great-grandkids."
She also loved animals, Sara said. "Her favorites were her dog, Phoebe, and my little cat, Yuki."
Peggy was born Nov. 3, 1936, in Kalamazoo, Mich., to Alfred and Corriene (Bylsma) Fields, and graduated from South Bend (Wash.) High School.
She and Everett were married Aug. 22, 1977, on the Washington Coast, and settled in Longview.
Their large family includes five daughters: Debbie Mossman of Seattle, Lauri McCauley of Spokane, Karen Mossman of Kalama, Colleen Robinson of Seattle and Sara Bauman of Longview; a son, Douglas Ross of Longview; two stepsons, Jeff Bauman of Rochester, Wash., and Ron Bauman of Seattle; and a stepdaughter, Sandy Lane of Yakima.
Peggy also leaves two brothers and two sisters.
The family will hold a private memorial service at a later date.
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