Peggy Joyce Vercimak

Peggy Joyce Crow Vercimak, 83, passed away in her home after waking from a nap on the evening of May 24, 2024. Born in Clovis, New Mexico on June 6, 1940 to Marvin Valentine Crow and Florence Fred Harris Crow, Peggy was the oldest of four daughters. She grew up in a loving, wonderful, modest, normal home in a close-knit neighborhood.  Mom walked and rode bikes everywhere as a young girl and attended Vacation Bible School with her friends. She developed a deep love for and a keen knowledge and understanding of The Holy Bible growing up in the ‘Bible Belt’ and coincidentally a profound love of history that served her well, and many times, throughout her life.  At home with her mother’s milk cow, chickens, and a large garden, her mother and daddy taught her the value of family and of hard work from an early age.  

 During her teen years, her family moved to Salt Lake City, Utah where she completed her last two years of high school, graduating from South High in 1958. She enjoyed participating and competing in girls’ football, FHA, the Social Arts Club, ROTC, Archery, and several choir groups.  She then attended John Robert Powers Modeling School, Stevens-Henager Business College, and BYU, all the while working to pay her own way. She met her husband, Don, when she came to Wyoming to a dance with some friends; it was love at first sight, but she claims she “definitely made him chase her”! 

She built her whole world around her marriage and family!  She relished her role as an attentive wife and business partner and a dedicated mother to her four children. She was likewise incredibly invested in her grandchildren and spent countless hours with them, serving them and enriching their lives. Time and again, she put together family parties, complete with deliciously prepared homemade meals, for everyone to enjoy, creating a time and space for what mattered most. She never complained about the time, preparation, cleanup or anything.  Mom truly believed ‘the most important work that one will ever do will be the work you do within the walls of your own home’.  Ever genuine, she was always comfortable in her own skin.  Most importantly, she magnified her position as “an help meet” to dad, helping him in almost every aspect of every endeavor. She loved the life they built together including driving fertilizer truck, long hours of raking and baling hay, branding, and especially the occasional ride to gather cows.  If anyone needed to know anything, “you better ask mom”! She knew the ins-and-the outs, where it was, how it worked, where it came from, and where he might have left it. The last 25 years of her ranching days, she usually got stuck with the truck and trailer dumping riders off, leading the cows, or picking somebody up. The city girl became the ultimate ranch wife.

Peggy learned to love Lyman and the Bridger Valley even though her parents thought Dad took her to “the end of the earth”. She and Dad had several couple friends and cherished the time spent with each party and get together; their favorite was ‘dinner out with the gang on New Years Eve’.  Peggy was a member of the Xadena Club, where she developed strong bonds of friendship with the other members. Mom was a very accomplished and creative homemaker. She loved to cook, garden, create flowerbeds, and sew…she sewed her own clothes from a very young age.  Everyone knew she was an extraordinary homemaker (sewing 5 wedding dresses for various girls, creating countless wedding cakes, and organizing several ward bizzares), and she loved every minute of it! Most of all, mom was wise and intelligent, quick-witted and careful, and the best mom each of us kids could have asked for.

Her quiet heart and strength was a light and a force for good, and she was forever a beacon to her family, friends and business associates. She delighted in contributing to the well-being of others, and was an outstanding listener. She and dad tried to see the best in those around them. Peggy’s unwavering optimism was a constant, especially for her eternal companion, and her steadfast faith is worthy of emulation. She not only treasured her personal testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ — she lived it! She loved serving in her callings in the church and welcomed the opportunity to help others in theirs. Indeed, ‘God holds a special place for a mother seeking His help’.

Peggy is a remarkable example of quiet, resilient faith and courage in the face of adversity and was an amazing example of enduring to the end, especially after the loss of dad.  In the midst of her own prolonged physical suffering and declining health, she remained humbly mindful of the needs of others and cheerfully pressed onward with the work still at hand. 

Peggy provided a loving and nurturing environment for her son, Bradley, (Julie) and her daughters, Tara Nelson, Tracy (Matt) Richards, and Dana. She is also survived by her grandchildren: Collin, Caleb, Katelynn, Parker, Morgan, Carson, Tanner, Chase, Briggs, and Avery; several great-grandchildren, and her youngest sister Lyle Jean. She is also survived by two brothers-in-law: Michael (Brenda) Vercimak of Hurricane, UT and Preston (Kitty) Vercimak of Lyman as well as several nieces and nephews. 

She was preceded in death by her dear husband, Don Allen Vercimak; her loving parents; two grandsons, Boyd Washakie Nelson and Zack Nelson; her sister, Eva Ruth in childhood, her sister, Carolyn Jackman, and brother-in-law, Shirl Jackman.
  
  Funeral services will be at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Lyman Chapel on May 31, 2024 at 12:00 PM.

The family will greet visitors at the LDS Chapel at a viewing from 10:30-11:45 prior to the service. The burial will take place at the Lyman Cemetery.