Bucks
Peggy Adams Death
Dear Friends,
Good morning. My oldest Quakertown pal, John A. Moyer, and I were recently talking about Peggy Jane Hoffman Adams’ sudden death. Mighty Betsy and I’ve known her for more than 40 years. She was a very close friend.
I asked John about his immediate thoughts when he learned of Peggy Jane’s passing.
“I think about celebration,” he replied. “Peggy was always celebrating something.”
“So true,” I agreed.
MB and I had seen her just the night before she died. She and Betsy hosted a party for the Bucks County Women’s Fund at our house. Peggy Jane was her usual peppy self. There was no sign of approaching doom. But the next day, she was gone. Her husband, Joe Flynn, told us that he left their house to run a few errands. When he returned, he found her seated lifeless in her kitchen chair. Peggy was only 72 but she’d lived the life of someone aged 100, plus. Every day began early and ended late.
Life is so fragile.
. She and her late husband, Harry Adams, founded Media Dynamics about 30 years ago, which specialized in marketing, public relations and government affairs. They also created Adams Apple Press which does genealogical and historical publishing and research.
Her activities would fill a book. She didn’t just belong to an organization; she actively participated in each one. Some of the following were paid positions but the vast majority of them were without compensation. Just look at this list:
Chairman and founding member Bucks County International Trade Council/ Port of Bucks County; Greater Philadelphia World Trade Center; Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission; Maritime Exchange for Delaware River and the Bay; Phila. Traffic Club, World Trade Assoc; Bravi Circle Opera Company of Philadelphia; Co-chairman public relations, Bucks County Opera Association; Legislative Committee, Upper Bucks Chamber of Commerce; Central Bucks and Pennridge Chambers of Commerce;
Bucks County Genealogical society; Director, Richland Library Company; founding member, Bedminster Township Historical Society; Legislative Chairman, Bucks County Federation of Woman’s Clubs; Quakertown Rotary Club; Mennonite Historians; Public Affairs Committee, Planned Parenthood of Bucks County; NSDAR; AAUW; Republican Majority for Choice; Society of Books; National Conference on Weights and Measurers.
She was a business patron for:
Heritage Conservancy, Bucks County Historical Society, James Michener Art Museum, and Bucks Fever; charter member publisher, The Conservator; Pennsylvania Team Ambassador; Phillips Mill Association. She was a member of the national and Philadelphia chapters of Chaine des Rotisseurs and Ordre Mondial de Gourmets; Caterina de Medici Gastronomic Society.
Peggy Jane received awards from the Legion of Honor, Chapel of the Four Chaplains; “Man of the Year” for northeast U.S. Weights and Measures; Awards of Excellence, National Association of County Information Officers; Community Service Award from the Upper Bucks Chamber of Commerce.
And, she was one of Bucks County’s best-known Republicans. Peggy Jane had been a state Republican committee member and a member of the Bucks County Republican Committee Executive Committee since 1974. She was a delegate to several Republican presidential conventions as well.
Did you note the reference to the Society of Books? It shows Peggy Jane’s rich humor. She and 13 other Upper Bucks women formed a book club 40 years ago. It had no formal name but she called it the Society of Books…SOB for short. The ladies were very close friends. Now four of them have left this world for the next.
Peggy Jane grew up in Allentown and graduated from Allentown High School and Cedar Crest College. She entered the world of politics quite naturally because she grew up in a politically active family. Her late father, Donald Hoffman, was a Lehigh County Republican star. He served as Chairman of the Lehigh County Board of Commissioners during my Commissioner days in Doylestown, 40 years ago.
Peggy Jane was active in Young Republicans organizations for Lehigh County and the state. That’s where she met her first husband, MB and me.
Most of her friends and colleagues recognized her love of the opera. It was at a gathering at the Academy of Vocal Arts (AVA) where she met Joe Flynn five years ago. But many didn’t realize that Peggy Jane was an excellent musician herself. In her youth, she mastered the oboe, a most difficult instrument. She also had an excellent voice. We sang in church choirs together and at the Berkshire Choral Festival. An alto, she also sang for a number of years with the Lehigh University Choral Union.
It’s hard to believe that Peggy Jane is gone. I thought she’d live forever. She worked hard…and played hard. She never missed work…and never missed a party. I thought of her as the proverbial pink bunny that goes on and on and on. But even the batteries of pink bunnies finally wear out.
Alas!
There’ll be
one last moment to celebrate. Peggy Jane’s memorial service will be on Tuesday,
December 2 at
Sincerely,
Charles Meredith