Margaret “Peggy” Theresa Johnson passed away on February 15, 2021, at age 891/2 at a Nursing Home in Missoula, Montana where she had resided for the last eight years, with an alert mind and a great sense of humor intact.
Peggy was born in Anaconda on October 16, 1931, to Peter & Mamie Staudohar, the seventh of seven children. She grew up in Anaconda, and attended St. Peter’s Catholic Grade School where her mother had also attended; she graduated from Anaconda High School and then attended Nursing School. Her nursing career was cut short when she married Robert “Jasty” Johnson on September 29, 1937, and from this union, they were blessed with six children, who were all raised in the Catholic faith and attended St. Peter’s Catholic School like their mother and grandmother before them. Peggy grew up, raised her family and lived her whole life on the 700 block of Park Street in Anaconda, having taken only a hand full of trips out of Anaconda and the State of Montana in her lifetime.
Peggy will always be remembered as the bartender at the Anaconda and Mill Bars in Anaconda where she worked after her children were grown, until she retired, after which she donated a considerable amount of her time helping to operate the Anaconda Food Bank. She made many long lasting friends over the years and people were always drawn to her sweet, innocent, friendly manner. Many people said she had a “Heart of Gold”.
She was very proud of her family and grandchildren and kept every card, drawing, article, or memento given to her. She never missed calling her children or grandchildren on their birthday and singing the entire song of Happy Birthday over the phone. This was something that was looked forward to and will be missed.
Peggy was preceded in death by her parents, Pete and Mamie Staudohar, and by her sisters Josephine “Dodie” Verlanic; Jewel Sweeney; Maribel Vanisko, Virginia Seymour, Lucille ll Arnot, and Joseph “Bud” Staudohar.
She is survived by her six children, Cindy Gauchay of Whitefish; Robbie Johnson of Anaconda; Cheryl Johnson of Seattle, Washington; Karen, Brenda and Lynette Johnson of Missoula; her three grandchildren Dewey Gauchay, Jay and Haley Johnson, and great-granddaughter Vivian Johnson. Peggy will be laid to rest at Mr. Olivet Cemetery in the future. A Catholic Memorial service will be held when the Covid is under control.
Let’s all donate to the Montana Food Banks.
Please visit below to offer a condolence or share a memory of Margaret.
Axelson Funeral and Cremation Services has been privileged to care for Peggy and her family.
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Nephew says
I didn’t have a lot of memories of aunt Peggy, but what I have are all good. She was a wonderful person. Now she can be with her mom and dad and all her sisters and brother Pete.
Mariann Lovell Matosich says
I am so sorry for your loss Cheryl and families💔
Prayers for all of you. Your memories will last a lifetime.
Mary Pat Morris Brown says
So sorry for your great loss. I loved visiting with Peggy with my Aunt Mary Laughlin. Great ladies. Your family will be in my prayers.
Patsy Sweeney Kirkpatrick says
I will never forget the times spent at Aunt Peggy’s house on Park Street. She was always sure that you had something to eat, and would let us run to the local corner store for candy or gum. We would run back and forth between her house and grandpa and grandma’s house next door. As we grew into the teen years and beyond Aunt Peggy was just plain fun to visit with and definitely to laugh with. She always had something to say that would make you laugh. She use to tell some of the best stories about her and her sisters and brother’s antics. I won’t be able to replicate the inflection she used (but some of you will remember) when she would exclaim, OH JESUS…..What are you doing….don’t set off those firecrackers….I’m going to knock you kids to kingdom come if you keep that up…etc. I remember the fun I had with my mom, Peggy, Dodo, and Peg Staudohar on their trip to Iowa. She couldn’t believe the fireflies/lighting bugs she saw as we sat on the porch at night. Again the wonderful stories she and her sisters shared. I am so happy that my brother Mike and me were able to visit with Aunt Peggy on our journey to Great Falls, and again, when I was so fortunate to be able to go to the wonderful birthday party her kids had for her at the nursing home. Aunt Peggy will be dearly missed by her family and relatives and friends. I feel fortunate to have seen her in these last year with so many miles between us. Aunt Peggy, have a wonderful time with your brother, sisters and parents on the other side. I’ll see you on the other side one day. Love you!!
Katy Laughlin Derzay says
Peggy was the best neighbor in the world one of my moms best friends. Spent much of my childhood in her backyard and in her house. I will treasure those memories we don’t have neighborhoods like that anymore. Her and my mom ,Gloria Popovich and Josie would drink coffee and laugh all day till two in the afternoon they were the best of friends. Rest in peace Peggy love you.
Geralyn Segedi says
I was quite small when we visited them along side of Grandpa & Grandma. I do remember we played church there , all the kids together.
I do remember Aunt Peggy was always cooking up something good 😌
May her soul & all the souls of the faithful departed through Gods Grace & Mercy Rest In Peace.
Mary Sweeney says
My heart goes our to you all at the loss of the Johnson family matriarch. Aunt Peggy was a force of love, laughter and faith. Mom (Jewel) and I used to stay at Aunt Peggy’s when we visited during summer vacations every few years. Peg’s house was always full of kids and laughter and us getting into mischief with “Inkabink” playing in the backyard where the garage sits now. Her stories were epic tales of the good times spent with her siblings. She would lean ahead on her chair and spin the tale with her unique twists and soon tears or laughter and aching abs would be leaving you gasping for breath. The last time i was with Peg and Dodie and Jewel and Bub’s wife Peggy together was 20 years ago. I thought they were going to kick us out of the restaurant for being too loud. The last time I saw Aunt Peg was after Dodie Funeral. Jim and I stopped by her house (the one next to the big house) that I remember Grampa Pete living and talked for a couple hours before heading back to Washington. Even then she tales of her recent adventures even in her 70’s about the ice and the garage and her kids were hilarious and sweet. Her deep love for her kids and life wrapped us in a blanket we carried back with us. She took life as it was, and made the decision that she would make it fun and memorable. I know my memories pale in comparison to yours, and i hope that you know the joy she brought others. Love you,
james and Susie Robertson says
I’m so sorry you guys lost your mom she was the coolest person thoughtful kind strong understanding beautiful lady always made me feel welcome your in my thoughts and prayers Brenda love you. Always sorry for your loss Susie
Cheryl Johnson says
My mother is such an inseparable part of me, it is not enough to just talk about memories, because she is so much more than memories. From Mom I learned how to be the person I am. She was there to patch me up after my falls on swings, roller skates, ice skates, and bicycles. She was there to put dinner on the table every night. She was there to wash and iron my clothes, and through all the growing pains and steps of my life.
From being around her, I learned kindness, generosity, sacrifice, and hundred other virtues. I also learned about hard work and not being spoiled – if we sassed or disobeyed, she would make us move the appliances out and scrub down the walls, or she would send us to stay with Aunt Mary in the middle of nowhere with no TV where we would have to clean her cupboards and do housework.
With six kids, mom had to rule the roost, but still, we often criticized her for being too nice to everybody. She was too nice to a fault. We told her, “When you are too nice, people take advantage.” She did not grow hard barnacles that many people form in life from being burned, even though she had been burned so many times. Instead of being bitter, she chose to believe her glass was half full, not half empty and she always kept a positive outlook, showing courtesy towards others.
And despite constant adversity and suffering in her life, Mom kept a sense of humor. Even when she tried to be mad, sometimes it was kinda funny. Once when I was a teen, my boyfriend and I were in my bedroom burning incense and meditating. She threw open the door, kicked the incense burner across the floor and said “Caught you smoking incense!” and then she chased him out of the house and down the block with the broom. She thought you could get high on incense. We couldn’t stop laughing it was so funny. The six of us kids made life kinda hard for the poor woman. She really had her hands full. She used to say, “Some people get one black sheep in the family, I got stuck with 6.”
But even though she was incapable of being a harsh disciplinarian, she was an expert at guilting us into doing chores, cleaning our room or doing our homework. I am now an expert at recognizing every fine nuance of the guilt trip technique.
Marriage was not all she dreamed it would be. She ended up with one pregnancy after another, a husband who turned out to be a poor father and a poor husband. Poor Mum had to take up the slack for our father’s failures and work ten times as hard to raise the family on her own. I remember she used to iron men’s dress shirts for 10 cents each to make ends meet and at age 10, I had to pitch in, cranking them out by the dozens. I certainly know how to iron a shirt like a pro. But, in spite of all her burdens and stresses, she made sure to put my hair in ringlets every night before school, made sure we went to church and did our homework, and she never missed giving us a great Birthday party, or a Holiday and it was Mom and Mom alone who made it all so wonderful and memorable.
She was a great cook too, and I learned from watching her. I still cook many of her recipes, like stuffed green peppers, chicken caccitore, dumpling soup, and so many others, but it was the holidays when she really cooked up a storm. I don’t know where she got the energy but she made sure we had more than enough of everything, including a cornucopia of snacks such as caramel apples, popcorn balls, spritz cookies, povitica, gingerbread men, mixed nuts, fudge, cherry pie, pumpkin pie, and more. More than once, the neighbor’s dog managed to break into the porch and slurp down one of her pies that were cooling. It seemed there was never a dull moment around the Johnson house, with so many people coming and going.…neighbors, relatives, friends, there was always something going on.
I could go on with a lifetime of memories that are the very fabric of my life, like a comfortable blanket covering me and protecting me. That is “Me Mum”. She knitted so many afghans, I can’t count them all. She knitted wool leg warmers for me and crochet white snowflakes, each one different, starched and stretched, like the doilies she used to crochet. It brings me joy to hang these snowflakes about during the holidays. I remember all the hundreds of Easter eggs we dyed. She was such an artist, so creative and so talented. She had no money to give us, but she constantly gave of herself, apologizing that she could not give us more.
Margaret Theresa was tough. After putting up with six kids and my father, she would have to be. She knew how to weather adversity. This is probably because she had early training. She was the youngest of 7 children in a lower middle class family that was forced to survive through the Great Depression on limited resources. Her brother Bud started working on the Anaconda Smelter as a teen. People had to pull their own weight back then and nothing came easy. Mom said she could not stand to eat apples because during the Depression the school would hand out rotten apples for the kids to eat and that was oftentimes their only lunch. Hard to believe, but my third grade teacher, Sister Cleaphus, taught my grandmother and my mother in the same school I attended.
In the earlier years of her marriage, when I was pre-school, and elementary school, Mom loved classical music and played it all day long until dad came home from work. That is how I gained an appreciation of the classics. Usually parents have to force their children to take piano lessons, but when I was 7 years old I begged her for piano lessons. I was allowed to take six months of lessons but then there was no money left in the budget to pay for more, which made me very sad.
After Mom’s dad died, he gave her the house in his Will, the one we grew up in and that she had rented from her father for over 30 years next door to her parents. Well, her sisters and brother contested the Will, in order to have the house put in their names. So for Mom to keep living there with her children, she had to buy the house back from them. After her divorce, she got diddley and in order to pay the mortgage payments, she had to go to work as a bartender at the Anaconda Bar, then at the Mill Bar. The poor woman worked her butt off the rest of her life to pay the mortgage and never did get it paid off. Some people get the shaft, but Mom usually got the whole elevator.
Yes, so many memories of Mom over the last 68 years of my life, so vivid and such an intrinsic part of my DNA. She was not perfect and I have my complaints, but I was lucky to have a mother with such perseverance and sense of responsibility. But most impressive was her kindness and her willingness to help.
I love you Mom and all of your children appreciate the wonderful gift of life you have given us by bringing us into the world. You have paid your dues in this life, you have done your duty, worked out your karma, lived through the fire, and your time has come to leave this valley of tears, cast off your body, transform into a butterfly and travel beyond the galaxies, dimensions and time streams into your soul’s further great awakening.
Janet McNamee Bjornemo says
I am so sorry about the loss of your Mom. When we were kids I used to love to hang out at your house. I can still visualize Cheryl and Mariann playing “Heart & Soul on the piano and Cheryl teaching me “Bone sweet Bone” on the piano.
Peggy always had a extra seat at the table for me and who ever else happened to be there. She never let on that she might not have enough to feed us all!
I have such good memories of you Peggy. Your sense of humor was legendary. Even when you got mad at us & told us to go home, we wouldn’t even be at the alley when you would yell “ok just kidding, you can come back now.”
My condolences to all of the Johnson kids. May your Mom Rest In Peace.
Mariann Lovell Matosich says
Oh Cheryl what a beautiful tribute to your Mom! I laughed and cried while reading it. It was so heartwarming! You have such a way with words
Keep your memories tucked away in your heart as they will help you find peace❤️
Patty kent says
Lynette- I am so sorry for your loss. Sounds like your mother was quite a character amd I would say you inherited many of her qualities. Go in peace. Cheers! Patty
Mariah hawk says
I love everything you said in regards to your sweet lovely mom. She’s all that you mentioned and more. Her and Jasty lived with us when you were born and I remember those early days rather well. I moved away as a teenager and rarely ever returned but tried to visit her when I could. I know she’s watching over all of you and smiling widely as she reads these words…
Missi "Boschee" Derenburger says
I loved Peggy, many memories from my childhood and “The Mill” Praying for your loss