Peg, now a resident at Kāpiti Rest Home, was brought up on the farm, attended Queen Margaret College in Wellington and is the oldest head prefect still living.
After leaving school, she trained as a Karitane nurse. One night a man knocked in the Karitane Hospital door. She opened it and called to a nurse: There is a tramp at the door” The tramp turned out to be Sir Frederic Truby King, founder of the Karitane Hospitals and the Plunket Society.
After completing her Karitane training in England, she was offered a four year contract looking after two girls called Elizabeth and Margaret – the Queen and her sister – but turned it down. ” I did not want to be tied down for four years”.
She was a fabulous Karitane nurse, mother and a wonderful grandmother. She always ate her own produce, never anything out of a tin, and was always on the run.
Peg has five grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. Her sister, Betty Fleming (103) lives in Blenheim.
