Peggy was born in Jamestown, New York on July 23, 1944 and grew up in Miami, Florida. She attended Sweet Briar College, met her husband Sammy while she was a student there, and graduated in 1966. They married in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1967 after she received her M.A.T. from Emory University. When they returned to Amherst County, Peggy began teaching at E.C. Glass High School while working on her M.A. at University of Virginia (1977). She quickly made Amherst her home and met many lifelong friends by joining the Pedlar Valley Garden Club and playing in a neighborhood Mah Jongg group. She and Sammy attended Mt. Tabor Methodist Church in Agricola.
She loved being part of the American Studies program and teaching American History, among other subjects, at E.C. Glass. For years, she hosted an end-of-year picnic for American Studies students at The Canebrakes, the Myers’ beef cattle farm in Amherst County, which was the highlight of the year for everyone. Her fellow teachers became very dear friends. She taught at E.C. Glass for 40 years and retired in 2006 after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. In her early retirement, Peggy and her friend and fellow AP US History teacher, Ann Rucker, wrote Sunday Drives: Cruising the Backroads of Amherst and Nelson Counties, which combined her love of the area and history. She was passionate about teaching and learning and was devoted to her students. However, she was never happier than when “breathing the same air” as her husband, children, grandchildren, and other family and friends on The Canebrakes.
Left to cherish her memory are her husband of 55 years, Henry S. “Sammy” Myers, III, and her children, Sarah Myers (Chuck), Henry Myers (Maggie), Cinda Ewing (Hugh), and Virginia Myers; five grandchildren, Sam and Ben Ewing, Stella Dean, Huck and Bridger Myers; her sister Virginia Gillmer, nephew Steven Gillmer (Natalie); sister-in-law Lucinda Daly (Andy), nephews Will Daly (Allison) and Drew Daly (Erika); and many devoted cousins and dear friends. She was preceded in death by her parents, Margaret and Richard Gillmer and her brother, Richard Gillmer.
She was a wonderfully strong, empathetic, and resilient woman. She had a kind word for everyone she met, a perfectly wry sense of humor and a twinkle in her eye and a smile on her face no matter what challenges she faced. She fought hard in her 16-year battle with Parkinson’s Disease but never let it get her down. She was a devoted wife, mother, sister, grandmother, and friend who was loved and respected by all who knew her.
The family would like to give special thanks to her team of loving caregivers who became her special friends and family over the years: Ursula Martin, Betty Mullins, Sheryl Pugh, and Eunice Waugh.
A memorial service will be held January 7, 2023 at 2pm at Wailes Center, Sweet Briar College.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial contributions be made to The Sweet Briar Fund ℅ Sweet Briar College, 134 Chapel Road, Sweet Briar, VA 24595 or the Amherst County Historical Museum, PO Box 741, Amherst, VA 24521.
