Peggy's Army of SLO Village Volunteers

On her 75th birthday, SLO Village member Peggy Fabricius sky-dived over Lompoc and then raced home the same day to claim her free piece of cake at the Madonna Inn.

A dozen years later, after adding hot-air ballooning and sailing over San Francisco in an air ship to her resume, her life is a bit more down to earth.

But the free spirit still spills forth from this lady at her home of 48 years on Stanford Drive in San Luis Obispo.

Slowed by the pain of arthritis and having lost her husband, Gene, two years ago on the day after their 55th wedding anniversary, Peggy stands determined to stay in that home filled with life’s precious memories.

“I am so thankful for SLO Village,” Peggy says. “I cannot do it all. So with the help, I am not as tired and therefore my physical pain is lower. I am not as stressed out, so I can think clearly enough to handle my own financial affairs and do my own paperwork. And also, I am able to do my little projects that bring joy to me.”

“The help,” that Peggy refers to includes a volunteer who does yardwork and a number of others who come to help with grocery shopping and a little housework or to provide transportation to medical appointments. One of those volunteers, Gayle, also spends time just visiting with Peggy,. who feels as if this special visitor connects with her like a sister.

“All of my SLO Village volunteers are always polite, respectful, reliable and so patient with me,” Peggy says. They are always friendly, likable, helpful, and they even put up with my organized clutter. They are never judgmental and never cross.”

Peggy grew up in East Texas, and a trace of an accent can be detected by a keen listener. And it’s “Peggy,” not Margaret. That’s the Texas way: direct and to the point. And that’s Peggy.

After high school, she worked for Kraft Foods in a suburb of Dallas and met the man who would become her life partner. Gene worked for Texas Instruments. They married and moved to New Jersey where Gene earned a doctorate in engineering and Peggy got her BA degree in sociology.

They arrived in San Luis Obispo in 1970 after two horrible winters in Rochester, N.Y. Gene joined the Cal Poly faculty in electrical engineering and computer science, and Peggy worked part-time as a teaching assistant for the San Luis Coastal School District.

Together they raised a son and two daughters in that home on Stanford Drive.

Peggy first learned about SLO Village from a member of her church when the village was still just a concept. “A friend of mine made me join it,” Peggy explains. “She knew I needed it. I didn’t know how badly I needed it.”

The SLO Village organization and its volunteers “increase my joy and enable me to stay in my own home and out of nursing home,” Peggy says.

“That increases my quality of life, which will even increase my length of life.”

And while her aviation antics may be over, Peggy is not done traveling through this life. She just concluded a rewarding road trip over Highway 1 to Big Sur, escorted by a grandnephew. She has pictures to show.