Margaret Buhlman, friend
I have fond memories of meeting Pegi at Ottawa’s Carleton University. We were kindred spirits in our pursuit not only of our degrees, but specializing in International Affairs and sharing the same Advisor, Prof. Brian Tomlin. The M.A. was supposed to be a one-year program but was really 2 plus if you were doing a thesis. After the first year we were no longer allowed to be “housed” in the M.A. study room with its small cubicles packed with 10 people. Lucky for us they assigned Pegi and me to the Photocopy Room. It had several advantages. It was quiet with only the two of us at long tables, it had rows of windows on two walls for contemplation of the changing seasons, and we had chat breaks when the youngest secretary came to make copies.
It was wonderful having someone to bounce ideas around, share bits of insights, and do a little grousing when my data punched onto computer cards for my Stats program had an error somewhere in the stack of several hundred cards. Find the error, re-punch the card, re-submit the decks to the computer department, wait 24 hours only to find another error further into the deck. Pegi had lots of patience for me and my cursing!
It is interesting what little things stick in one’s mind. The first time Pegi invited me over for dinner I learned something new: a salad could be made with ingredients other than iceberg lettuce and bits of tomato and cucumber. The pieces of cucumber and peppers were HUGE!!! To this day I don’t cut salad ingredients into small pieces.
I wasn’t much for winter outdoor activities, but Pegi always encouraged me to join her and a few others for downhill skiing at Mont Ste. Marie in Quebec or skating on the Rideau Canal. She also participated in the Jock River Canoe Race with Pat Close, a fellow Carleton student. I can’t remember how the two of them finished. I just remember taking photos with my new camera, freezing in the early spring air, and wondering how they could stand that cold water!!
Pegi’s commitment to her family and friends and to the welfare of the human race and the environment is irreplaceable. I will miss her greatly, including our annual lunches to celebrate our birthdays, her cheeriness and laugh, her good nature, her optimism, her kindness, warmth and thoughtfulness, and most recently our walks.