Mary Peek

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Peek Mary Peek, age 82, died December 30 at her Inver Grove Heights home, surrounded by her family. Author, teacher, and civic leader, Peek was a pioneer in the Minnesota Women's Movement, a long-time DFL Party activist and a "founding mother" of the DFL Feminist Caucus. She was also a teacher, salary negotiator and educational consultant working to strengthen academic freedom and eliminate sexism in schools. In 1982 Gov. Albert Quie and the Minnesota Council on Education honored her "outstanding contribution to education." Peek also worked as a newspaper editor and reporter, wrote political commentaries and published a community- supported newsletter in Grey Cloud Island Township. In 1980, she authored The Awful Lightning, a book about her experiences as the lone victim of a 1970 terrorist bombing in the St. Paul Dayton's department store. Peek enjoyed entertaining her many friends, reading, writing, travel, swimming, and in her earlier years, canoeing, camping, and gardening. She loved flowers, wild and tame, and the natural beauties of her long-time island home on the Mississippi. She delighted in good food, great conversation, and much laughter. Peek was born in Albert Lea, Minnesota on September 27, 1922. She is survived by her husband of 58 years, Roland M.; and children C.J. (Peggy Trezona), Anne (Tom Ehlinger) and Tom (Catherine Robbins); as well as five grandchildren, Julia Peek, Elizabeth and Peter Ehlinger, and Sarah and Jennifer Johnson. She is also survived by a brother, Robert G. Larson (Mary Ellen) and a sister, Margaret Perkel (Mike). A Memorial Service will be held at 4:00 p.m. Thursday, January 6, at Unity Church-Unitarian in St. Paul (park at the corner of Portland and St. Albans). Flowers are appreciated, or memorials to Minnesota Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union, People for the American Way, the Minnesota Women's Consortium, or Unity Church-Unitarian.

Published on January 2, 2005