Peggy Lynn Davis

My sister Peggy passed away over the weekend on January 7, 2024 after struggling to recuperate from health problems and several stays in rehab facilities. Many who knew my sister would say that she was loving and had a rather regular life and there was nothing extraordinary or outstanding about her. But as I reflect on my sister’s life, I have come to believe that she had a wonderful, amazing life and had quite the list of accomplishments though she, herself, didn’t seem to think so.

Peggy had a deep love of Stage Theater. Even her email referred to her being a Stage Artist. She played the best Mrs. Paroo, of the Music Man play, and could switch on the best Scottish accent you ever heard. She also had the talent of singing and had a fantastic Soprano voice and would sing a solo that was simply amazing. The two songs I mostly remember are I Walked Today Where Jesus Walked, and The Lord’s Prayer. I think she solidified my love of music that was inherited from our parents who met in a choir.

In high school at Highland, she was in the Seminary Choir where they sang at many venues and once singing a modified Dear to the Heart of the Leopard as a spoof to their East High Rivals, the Leopards. I remember her many stories of Brother Porter, the choir director.
She was the choir director in her BYU Student ward where she felt rather inadequate with Mac Wilberg in her ward.

I remember her as the choir director of our Adult Singles church ward congregation in Sugarhouse where she would stretch the skills of our wonderful accompanist, Wendal Hurst, to the max. That choir was also fortunate to have Jon Schmidt of Piano Guys fame in our congregation and sing with us and accompany us at times.

I was an oblivious teenager when she spent time at BYU, but remember her dragging us to see some productions she was involved with in some manner or another. One of those was Saturday’s Warrior and she had a schoolgirl crush on the lead actor. That same actor later was in a Pioneer Theater Company run of Peter Pan, so of course she took us to that.

When she was involved in something it was all the way, sometimes to the extreme. And she showed her passion for it as it engulfed her life at the time.

Peggy developed many skills through her involvement in drama at BYU. She was a director of several church road shows that were the thing during our younger adult years. I remember playing Snoopy in one of those. When she was teaching Junior High drama and English, she also directed several productions, probably her favorite was Bye Bye Birdie.

She was great at theater style makeup and once did me up as the typical look of Sigmond Freud for my Psych 101 final exam party in college. I looked amazing.

She also was involved in productions with the Osmonds at their studio rubbing shoulders with them. I remember her arranging to have the deaf ward to come and speak at our church one week because of her association with Tom and Virl Osmond.

Other folks she rubbed shoulders with included Robert Redford and John Denver on one occasion as she was involved in something with Sundance theater for a time.

Peggy never had the blessing in this life of marrying a sweetheart and having children, so she unofficially adopted her nieces and nephews. She was a loving person and sometimes this got to be overbearing, but I know she meant well. She would usually have some Christmas gift for all the kids, even though we, her brothers, thought she was overdoing it and shouldn’t be spending her money that way. Once she spent a lot of time hand painting little wooden treasure chests to give to the kids. It wasn’t much, but she felt it was something she could and wanted to do. Most of them are all now broken and forgotten, but it’s the effort and thought that counts and her love and desire to be included and remembered that was the point of those little wooden boxes.

If you met Peggy, she always had a smile to give and a story to tell. I think I’ve heard this one a thousand times. While at BYU, there as a playing of the movie It’s a Wonderful Life, and while entering the theater she was pulled over by her professor and she sat at the feet of Frank Capra, the producer and director of the film. She was in tears at the end of the movie, like many there, and Mr. Capra said to the professor, “It still works,” or something like that.

Given that Peggy was such a stage artist, my thoughts a lead to a musical and a particular song in it. A musical stage production of the book “Charly” and the number in it titled Song of Redeeming Love. It refers to the passage in a book we consider scripture. Peggy told me about 2 weeks ago that she really wanted to get better so she could sing with the church choir again, so my thoughts went to this song that I really enjoy and reflects on my final thoughts below. Here is the link on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8rOxmQpsnU

Here's the usual Genealogical information found in an obituary or tribute to someone: Peggy Lynn Davis was born July 24, 1954 to the loving couple of Lynn Hamilton and Joanne Ferrin DAVIS. She is the first born of the family that includes her brothers, Bryan, Mark, Dan (Clydia), and Darrell (Laura) and a sister she is now able to greet in heaven, Shauna. She was not married in this earthly life, but is blessed with the relationship to many nieces and nephews and cousins. She is the first of this generation of the immediate family to pass away. But she greets several cousins and her parents.

Reviewing Peggy’s life and the little that I know of it, I am blown away at really how amazing a life it has been and the people she knew and were touched by her. I really did have an amazing sister.

My thoughts of her passing vary, but the dominating direction of my thoughts are about how wonderful mine and her faith and belief are that there is a plan for the life of everyone, developed by a loving God, our Heavenly Father, for the blessing of all His children on Earth. For faith in a Savior, he being Jesus Christ, that provided the way for all to be forgiven and resurrected. That there is a purpose to this life on earth and there is a meaningful life after we all will die, where we will join others in the glorious love of God. I say, “Glory to God and Halleluiah. Another child has returned.”

Family is invited for a dinner from 3 to 4 on Saturday January 20 at the Church located at 10885 Pampas Way, Sandy UT 84094. If you rubbed shoulders with Peggy and would like to join us, we would love to see you for a Celebration of Life/Wake at 4:30 to 6 pm at the church.