Peggy Marie Starr

Peggy Marie Starr, age 88, passed away peacefully on September 29th, 2021 at Piedmont Medical Center with her son Mark at her side. Peggy was born on February 15, 1933 in Eaton, Colorado to Lewis Henry Clements and Edythe Burnham Clements.  She grew to adulthood in various communities in northern Colorado and while growing up, she took piano lessons that brought her a lifetime of joy playing as occasions allowed.

She said, "My earliest memories is my 4th birthday when we went to Oklahoma and I played with two of my teenage cousins while they would brush my hair. When my sister Connie was in high school, I was the team mascot for the Eaton Reds, (Eaton, Colorado). I had an outfit just like the cheer leaders had and went to all the football games."

She loved to sing and wanted to follow her sister Connie who sang professionally with Tommy Dorsey and other big bands in the 1940’s, but motherhood took her a different direction. She married during her senior year of high school and had her first son, Mike Kelim, after graduating from Fort Morgan High School in 1951, and two years later Jim followed. She was a home maker until her divorce from Mike and Jim’s dad, when she then began a career as a secretary and later as an executive secretary. She was exceptionally fast at both shorthand and typing. She taught herself bookkeeping and was sought after for her skills and attention to details. She then had two more children, Mark and Kelly May. While raising her four children as a single parent, she often worked two and three jobs, six and seven days a week in order to provide for them.

She and the three boys (and Mark’s dad) left Colorado and went briefly to Great Falls, Montana but the winters were too much and so they headed south to Sacramento, California. Then they went on to Southern California where her last baby was born. Kelly joined the three busy brothers who doted on her.

During the years her boys were growing up, she was active in supporting their sport activities and was even the secretary to the Little League Association in our area for several years. Taking on the same passion and love for game of bowling as her father did, she played on a league for a many years. As a family, she loved to take the kids to see the Los Angeles Rams and Dodgers play, which they all loved to do. If it wasn’t live, then they would watch the games on TV as family.

In 1976, Peggy’s sister, Connie, died unexpectedly during surgery. Connie’s husband, Dr. Wilmer Starr, MD, found comfort and greater friendship in his sister-in-law and they started dating. They married in August 1977, and the three nieces, Susan, Tani and Neva, became her step-daughters.  They retired and moved to Mesa, Arizona, where Wilmer passed away in 1999. In 2004, she moved to Waco, Texas to be closer to her daughter, Kelly and son, Jim. In 2012, due to her declining health and need for assistance, she moved from Texas to South Carolina to live with Mark and Debbie for the past 9 years.

She dearly loved her Colorado heritage and always loved to return to visit her mom, brother Tom’s family and all the other relatives, and was always ready to camp up the Poudre Canyon whenever she could.  One of her fondest memories was family reunion up the canyon in 1995, although she broke her ankle while hiking with the kids, it was her last camping trip up the canyon in her beloved Rockies.