Peggy Ann Griswold

Peggy Ann Britt Griswold of Eastsound Washington passed away peacefully at home on Friday, November 22, 2024, at the age of 92 after being in poor health for a number of years. She was born on February 23, 1932, in Montclair, New Jersey but soon moved to North Carolina where she grew up an only child. In her early years she started out on her father’s family farm. Later her parents’ teaching careers moved her around to several towns in the piedmont area of North Carolina.

Peggy graduated from Goldsboro High School in 1950, and then from the University of North Caroline, Greensboro (UNCG) in 1954, with a Bachelor of Science in home economics. She continued at UNCG, completing most of her Master of Science in home economics

She married Lyman William (Bill) Griswold in June 1955 in Lumberton, North Carolina, where her parents lived and worked at the time. She and Bill moved together to Annapolis, Maryland where they lived and worked for the first half of their married lives.

She taught 5th and 6th grade in Anne Arundel County, Maryland for two years before starting her family. In the summer of 1959, she completed her Master of Science in home economics with the help of her parents, who provided childcare while on summer break from their own teaching careers. Peggy and Bill’s oldest two children were two years old and 6 months old at the time. Peggy remained active in teaching once her four children were in school by volunteering as a teacher’s aide and substitute teaching. She completed continuing education course work to maintain her teaching certificate and attained a Certificate in Guidance Counseling from the University of Maryland before returning to teaching full-time at Severn River Junior High, Arnold Maryland in 1976 as a Home Economics teacher, later called Life Skills. Meanwhile she continued her educational pursuits, attaining a Master of Library Science from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore Maryland in 1988. She retired and moved to Orcas Island Washington with Bill in 1992.

Soon after her move to Annapolis, Peggy became active in community amateur theater groups for both children and adults, specializing in costume and makeup behind the scenes. While her children were at the age to participate in scouting programs, she was active as in the Boy Scouts of America. She was a member of the First Presbyterian Church, both in Annapolis and then in the San Juan Islands. When the ferry schedule and the uphill walk from the ferry landing became too much of an impediment to weekly trips to the First Presbyterian Church in Friday Harbor, Peggy and Bill became members of the Lutheran Church in the San Juans which has a service on Orcas Island. After moving to Orcas Island, she volunteered at the Orcas Island Library for many years and was one of the volunteer Statewide Health Insurance Benefits Advisors (SHIBA) on Orcas Island for nearly 20 years, just to name a few of her many activities.

She was preceded in death by her parents, James Edward Britt, of Clinton, Sampson County, North Carolina, and Clarinda Adaline Holcomb Britt, of Virginia.

She is survived by her husband, Bill, her four children, Britt, Becky, Charles and James, and six grandchildren, Sarah, Diana, Devin, Max, Catherine, and Sirague.

A fun anecdote that Peggy liked to tell was that Andy Griffith was a teacher at Goldsboro High School during the time Peggy was there. This was in the days before he became well known for his singing and acting. She participated in school drama productions with him.

In 1955, as part of her master’s degree work, she participated as the hostess of an early UNCG television production called “Today’s Homemaker” which was broadcast regionally in eastern North Carolina. Bill remembers watching her show while he was in school at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

The family would like to thank the home caregivers and Hospice of the Northwest for the care and compassion they showed Peggy in her final years, months and days, allowing her to spend the last few years of her life at home, as was her desire. Many thanks also to the friends and family members who visited and offered help and comfort in her declining years.

A memorial service will be planned and announced at a later date.