MaryRuth Peck

MaryRuth "OJ” Peck, age 74, of Grasonville, MD, passed away on April 9, 2013, after a valiant three-year battle against cancer. MaryRuth was born in Manhattan, KS, on August 18, 1938. She graduated summa cum laude from Kansas State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in January 1960, with a major in English and a minor in French. She studied French for a semester at Université Lavale in Quebec. MaryRuth married James Wyatt Peck (Jim) on December 20, 1959; they were very happily married for 53 years. MaryRuth set up 22 different homes during Jim’s 26 year military career, and enjoyed living all over the country and overseas. She was always a model of organization. She loved being an Army officer’s wife, and especially appreciated the close friendships with wives of her husband’s West Point classmates. MaryRuth was a Red Cross volunteer in military hospitals at many of her husband’s duty stations, and earned her three gallon blood donation pin. After living in so many houses, MaryRuth knew exactly how she wanted to design the home she and Jim built in Prospect Bay, MD, in 1984. It became her dream home, and she found great joy reading in the sun on the back deck and sharing spectacular sunsets with her husband. She started learning how to play golf in 1984 at the Prospect Bay Country Club, and it soon became her passion. She loved her golf friends, who were great golfing buddies and were tremendously supportive throughout her illness. Her golf friends gave her the nickname “OJ” because of her trademark orange attire and accessories. She also loved playing golf with her husband – she and Jim were the husband-wife Prospect Bay Club low net champions in 1997. She also achieved the remarkable feat of shooting a hole-in-one not just once, but twice. She also enjoyed fishing with her family, and was an avid reader. MaryRuth is survived by her beloved husband; her three children, Dan (Susan) of Lafayette, CO, Debbie Brown of Portland, ME, and Jim (Cristin) of Ocean City, MD; her seven grandchildren, Madeline and Wyatt Peck, Prescott, Rachel, Clara and Spencer Brown, and Graham Peck; as well as many friends. A funeral service will be held at 3:00 pm on Monday, April 15, at the Fellows, Helfenbein & Newnam Funeral Home, P.A. in Chester, MD, where friends may begin visiting with the family beginning at 1:30 pm. A burial service for close friends and family will be held at the U.S. Military Academy Cemetery at West Point, NY, on Friday, April 19 at 1:30 pm. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be given to the American Cancer Society, 92 Read’s Way, Suite 205, New Castle, DE 19720; or another cancer research organization.

MaryRuth Peck

August 18, 1938 - April 9, 2013