PEG: THE STORY OF SUCCESS

Hello. I am Peg Freman. To keep things straight, I am married to Tom and we have a daughter Annie.  Tom and and I live in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Annie now lives in San Jose, California.

Like I said, I am Peg (well, I went by Peggy for a long time and some people even call me that). Peg, that’s the name I have gone by and will go by, but I was born Margaret Ann Witmer and then married into the name Freman, with one “e” - yes, Freman with only one “e.”  I was born in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, on February 8, 1959, to Robert John and Margaret Jane (Basalla). My parents were married October 12, 1950. I have 2 brothers, Robert (he, “Bob,” is 8 years older than I am) and Donald (he, “Don,” is 6 years older than I am). I grew up being the only girl and was practically an only child because of the separation of years between my brothers and me. Bob left for college when I was only 10 and Don joined him 2 years later (they both went to Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana).

Both Bob and Don have been married for a long time to the their respective spouses.  Bob has been married to Aiko for almost 40 years and Don has been married to Maritza for almost 35 years. Bob and Aiko have two children, Layla and Alex. Layla is married to Sebastian and they have one son, Kai.  Tom and I got married October 10, 1987, which 30 years later marked the most significant change of my life - my subdural hematoma. This hematoma has changed my life more than anything else has changed my life - schools, cities I have moved to and lived in, jobs I have taken and/or left, my marriage to Tom or having my only child, Annie on March 27, 1995.

I lived in Pennsylvania until I was nearly 5 when my dad was transferred to northwest Indiana. I grew up in Indiana and went to school there my entire school-life. I went to Thomas Jefferson Elementary School, Thomas Jefferson Junior High and Valparaiso High School. It should be known that I didn’t go to kindergarten. Not going to kindergarten back then was a bit odd (as it still is these days), but my parents knew we would be going to school for at least 16 years and that there were things like Captain Kangaroo and Romper Room on TV to start us off instead of kindergarten.

So, my academic career began in first grade.

I was always an overachiever. So my first day in that first grade, my mom was concerned. She was concerned because I hadn’t gone to kindergarten and therefore I may be slower than the others.  But, the first day I stopped the class with an interruption.  I asked the teacher if we should start the day with the Pledge of Allegiance (they always did on those shows on TV in the morning).  As it turned out, I was actually correct!  We did stop the class and we recited the Pledge and the teacher told my mom when she picked me up that she had nothing to worry about!

Every time grades came out during junior high and high school my name made the Honor Roll.  When we were leaving junior high, our junior high school decided to honor its most academically achieved students during their past 3 years there by recognizing about ten of us (out of about 225).  I was one of those recognized and I still have the gold lapel pin with my initials, MAW, that I was given that day for those achievements. That is something Annie should always keep - and I will discuss more of those items in an upcoming post.

In high school I made the National Honor Society. And, I graduated 13th out of 465 students from my high school class in 1977.  I got to wear a yellow tassel in addition to the green tassel (our school color) at our high school graduation. Despite both of my brothers being much older than me, in both junior high and high school, some of the teachers remained the same and were still there teaching. That was nice, very nice. They remembered Bob and Don, and Bob and Don remembered them, and for a long long time thereafter Bob, Don and I spoke fondly about them.

I then went on to Indiana University in Bloomington, IN, for college.  I went there when Bobby Knight was (famously and infamously) there as basketball coach.  I graduated cum laude (with honors) in 1981 with a degree in accounting in exactly 4 years. I did not take any time off to “find myself” or travel Europe.  When I graduated in May 1981 I took a job with as a Staff Accountant with Price Waterhouse in Los Angeles. No one thought I could ever leave my parents back in Indiana and move 2400 miles away to a place I had never even visited, but I did!  I left Valparaiso in July by car with my mom and found a studio apartment for me and I started working in September.

I was always a success as a child/student and I continued my success as a professional in Los Angeles with Price Waterhouse! This is just the start of the journey!
GOD BLESS, PEG. 



“Why fit in when you were born to stand out?” -Dr. Seuss

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