Peggy Spidell, 91

Freda "Peggy" Spidell, 91, of Mountain Home, died May 16, 2006.

Funeral Services were held Thursday, May 18, at Rost Funeral Home, McMurtrey Chapel, with burial following at Mountain View Cemetery in Mountain Home.

Freda Laura Boyd, was born March 28, 1915 in Seattle, Wash., to Fred Boyd and Bertha Carey Kennedy. Freda's early life was spent in Seattle where she attended elementary schools and graduated from Ballard High School in 1932.

"Freda loved growing up near Puget Sound and the ocean. Love for her hometown of Seattle never left her," her family said.

She married John Clark (Bill) Brennan Aug. 28, 1932, of the same year. As a Navy Machinist, Bill served aboard the U.S.S. Pillsbury during WWII, which was sunk with the loss of all hands during the Battle of the Java Sea in February of 1942.

Freda worked to support the war effort as a riveter and as a welder for Ford Motor Company, making B-24s.

In an effort to earn better wages, she traveled from Detroit to Oak Ridge where she worked on the Manhattan Project developing the world's first atomic bombs.

In 1944, Peggy enlisted in the Coast Guard, trained in Florida and served as a Yeoman First Class.

Peggy moved to Grangeville, Idaho, in 1947, with her daughter, Andrea, and her son, John, where she met and married Vern D. Spidell. Vern worked as a logger until 1951 when they moved to Mountain Home to raise their family together. Their merged family included her two children and Vern's two sons, Norman and Leon, and his two daughters, Judy and Sheryl.

Peggy worked for civil service at Mountain Home Air Force Base as Transportation Officer and retired in 1970.

In the late '70s, Peggy moved to her Boise condominium home, enjoying friends and family in many organizations including the Catholic Church, Nazareth Retreat Center, Happy Hoofers, Bridge Club and the Ahavath Beth Israel Synagogue. Her grandchildren fondly remember the "condo" where they swam in her pool and fed the ducks, enticing them indoors.

Her other joy was traveling, especially taking her family on trips.

"Peggy helped other people all her life in the churches and synagogues that she attended as well as schools and the military," her family said with pride. "She even worked and ran a Boise soup kitchen. Peggy often gave shelter or food to the homeless, exchange students and abused women. She often said,'Don't feel sorry for yourself; do something for other people'."

In 2000, Peggy moved back to Mountain Home to be near her family, living at Cedar Crest Retirement Center.

"She was a great-grandmother and grandmother to many and loved all her family dearly," her family said.

Survivors include: their daugher, Andrea, and her husband, Ron Fisher, of Mountain Home; Stepbrothers Norman and his wife, Lynette Spidell, of Featherville; Leon Spidell of Mountain Home; stepdaughters Judy and her husband, Dave Gossett, of Meridian; stepsister Sheryl Spidell Leonard of Meridian; six grandchildren and nine great-greatgrandchildren.

Peggy was preceded in death by her first husband, John C. (Bill) Brennan in 1942; her second husband, Vern D. Spidell in 1974; her son, John Rex Brennan in 1973, and grandchildren Steve Doan, Branda Snow and Bruce Malm, two sisters and one brother.