About Peggy Slusser
A Steadfast Heart
He sees each fledgling sparrow fall, He knows small broken wings. He hears each anguished, plaintive call Of tiny broken wings… He knows each lonely crippled child Who bravely laughs and sings, Who longs to run and romp in fields And know glad joy it brings.
Portrait of Peggy Slusser.
Who Was Peggy Slusser?
This verse was found among the practice calligraphy sheets in the papers of Peggy Jean Slusser, namesake of the Peggy J. Slusser Memorial Philatelic Library. Visitors often ask who Peggy Slusser was and why the library bears her name. Peggy was a stamp collector, making her name especially fitting for a philatelic library. Her parents, Blaine and Bessie Slusser, were also extraordinarily generous. Their gift made the library building possible.
But the story of the library is also the story of Blaine and Bessie’s love for their daughter. Peggy was bright, curious, and determined. She lived with arthritis throughout much of her life, and the Slusser family moved to Tucson in 1959 in hopes that the climate would improve her quality of life.
Peggy’s death was sudden and unexpected. After losing their only daughter, Blaine and Bessie found a way to honor her memory through their generosity. The library building represents both the Slussers’ generosity and their love for Peggy. The work carried on within the library also reflects many of Peggy’s own interests in stamps, history, learning, and connecting with people.
A Loving and Close Family
Peggy’s grave marker at Evergreen Cemetery is shaped like a heart and decorated with roses and a small animal. Blaine and Bessie are buried nearby. Materials preserved in the Slusser Library Archives provide additional glimpses into the family’s life and their relationship with one another.
Intelligent, Curious, and Kind
Archival materials associated with Peggy reveal a person with a wide range of interests. Her practice calligraphy sheets contain poetry, aphorisms, passages from books, family names, the names of Civil War generals, and rows of carefully formed letters. Together, they show both her interest in calligraphy and her determination to master it. Peggy was particularly interested in the Civil War, an interest reflected in materials she collected and preserved.
Her papers also tell the story of someone interested in people and the wider world. She corresponded with pen pals in Iran, Ghana, East Germany, and Egypt. She sent mail to American prisoners of war in Hanoi, Vietnam, and saved newspaper clippings about members of her family, particularly her paternal grandmother’s family, the Moores. Those who knew Peggy remembered her as intelligent, curious, and kind. It is fitting that a library devoted to helping people pursue their own interests and research should carry her name.
Today, the Peggy J. Slusser Memorial Philatelic Library serves researchers and collectors interested in philately, postal history, the Civil War, and related subjects. The library exists because of the generous gift of Blaine and Bessie Slusser in memory of their only daughter, Peggy. Her name, and the curiosity and love of learning reflected in the materials she left behind, continue at the Peggy J. Slusser Memorial Philatelic Library.
I’ve dreamed many dreams that never came true
I’ve seen them vanish at dawn.
But I’ve realized enough of my dreams, Thank God,
To make me want to dream on.
