Peggie Dean Metts

Peggie D. Metts, 80, of Gulfport passed away peacefully in her family home August 29. Peggie was born in Montgomery, AL on Christmas Day, 1935, a birthdate she shared with her maternal grandmother. Growing up she lived with her parents, her brother and her sister. She attended Lanier High School, took classes at a business school and worked as a legal secretary in Montgomery.
She met her husband while visiting a family friend in the hospital. She married Albert S. Metts and began her life as an Air Force wife. Her first two children, Ann and Jim, were born at Maxwell Air Force Base Hospital, the same hospital where she and Al had first met.
They celebrated their 64th anniversary last year. She was a devoted and faithful wife who enjoyed living close to both her Alabama family and her husband's family in South Carolina. They visited as often as they could, sharing meals, holidays and going on vacations together. As much as she enjoyed being geographically close to her family while her husband was in Korea, she and Al were ready to explore a new country when he was transferred to Japan. On weekends they would explore the cities and the mountainside, seeing cherry blossoms, often inviting other friends to join them for picnics, Easter egg hunts in the mountains or on fishing trips. The newest member of the Metts family, Tina, was born in Tachikawa. After three years, Al and Peggie were ready to come back to the states before heading out for their next assignment. Her grandmother had shipped a box of sugar cookies to Japan for the kids to enjoy on the family's return trip to the United States. Peggie and Al had one or two also.
Al was transferred to Keesler and he and Peggie jumped right in and made themselves at home. The family was very involved in First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Gulfport. Peggie was a Deaconess and was active in CWF, teaching Sunday school to the younger children, and visiting members who were sick. Peggie was creative and enjoyed sewing, ceramics, embroidery, and was active as a room mother at Mississippi City Elementary. During three consecutive assignments to Keesler they made many close friends.
Moving to Goose Bay, Labrador, Canada seemed far away from the Gulf Coast beaches they had enjoyed. Peggie and Al moved their family for Al's last assignment. They took up square dancing with a vengeance and made many new friends there. She also participated in NCO Wives Club, and once went on a trip to Northwest Mission in the spring on a cold, windy day. While on that trip she wondered if the ski lift across the river would hold. She took a cake decorating course and the children were always coming home to a freshly made cake because she was practicing. She enjoyed staying busy. She decorated wedding cakes, birthday cakes and a ""My cake saved your Daddy's life"" cake.
Peggie and Al moved back to Gulfport in 1971 and when Al retired, Peggie went to work at Memorial Hospital doing pre-admission interviews with patients before surgery. She enjoyed the patients and the staff at the hospital.
She and Al continued their passion for traveling. When Peggie retired they took longer and more frequent RV trips visiting their children or taking the grandkids on camping trips to Fort Pickens, FL. Eventually they would make 34 trips out west, continue regularly visiting family and would visit their grandchildren when they were in college.
One of her greatest joys was the children in the family, and rocking babies was her specialty. She could gently lull them with strains of ""You Are My Sunshine"" or ""Hey, Good Looking"". It didn't matter which one. There was magic in her song. It was nap time.
She was preceeded in death by her son, James Albert Metts; her parents Joseph Manning Miller, Sr, and Agnes Dean Miller; her sister, Sarah Barbaree and her uncle, Claude Miller.
Peggie is survived by her husband, Albert S. Metts, her daughters Ann (Paul) Metts Aitken -Alaska, and Tina Metts; her grandchildren, Randi (Adam) Smith, Sheila (Tony) Brachear, Preston (Joy) Cauley -Georgia, Jessica Ann Metts and Albert Metts Jr.; her great grandchildren, Lincoln Smith and Everette Smith and her brother, Joseph Manning Miller, Jr. -Deatsville, AL and other family members in Alabama and South Carolina.
The Memorial Service for Peggie D. Metts will be held at RIEMANN FAMILY FUNERAL HOME, 11280 Three Rivers Road, Gulfport, MS on Saturday, October 1st at 2pm. Visitation will be held following the service. The online guestbook may be viewed and signed at www.riemannfamily.com