PEGGY RAKESTRAW, 72
From Matteson. Died March 25.
Peggy Rakestraw had high standards for her two daughters.
Her youngest, Jennifer, said her mother was strict but loving. She often reminded her daughters to make sure they saved their money “for a rainy day” and to be independent.
“She was protective and wanted the best for us,” her daughter said. “When she said something, she meant it and everyone knew it.”
The 72-year-old Matteson woman died March 25 in a south suburban hospital. Though she long had been in failing health due to end-stage kidney disease that required dialysis three times a week, her daughter said the family is stunned by her sudden death and left with unanswered questions.
It wasn’t until days later that they learned the cause: pneumonia due to a COVID-19 infection. Her various preexisting health conditions were listed as contributing factors.
Jennifer Rakestraw said her family does not know how her mother became infected. She lived in a nursing home, and the last in-person contact her family had with her there was March 12 because the facility soon stopped allowing visitors due to the pandemic.
She said her mother had moved into Generations at Applewood nursing and rehabilitation center about six months earlier due to her fragile health. She was admitted to the hospital two days before her death due to “confusion” and other symptoms not typically associated with the coronavirus, her daughter said.
The family was allowed to see her only briefly that first day at the hospital.
“On top of everything else, it’s devastating we couldn’t be there (when she died),” Jennifer Rakestraw said.
On Friday, a spokesman for the Matteson facility acknowledged a resident had died after a two-day hospital stay. He said administrators had not been notified of the cause of the resident’s death. He said the facility did not have any confirmed COVID-19 cases among staff or residents as of Friday.
In a statement, facility administrators listed several safety measures. They said staff and visitors were prescreened as of March 6. Access has been limited to “essential health care workers” since March 13. The facility “is adequately stocked with personal protective equipment and all employees who work in the home adhere to the highest standards of infection control protocol and use personal protective equipment,” the statement read.
Peggy Rakestraw grew up on the city’s South Side and surrounding suburbs. She and her husband, Bobby, were married nearly 50 years, their daughter said.
Before retirement, she was a unit clerk at the former Oak Forest Hospital for about three decades.
Jennifer Rakestraw said her mother had a good sense of humor and loved reading, especially mystery novels. She enjoyed board games, charades and watching her grandchildren play video games. She was a great cook. Her mother had a “special secret recipe” for everything. Her specialties included lasagna, cornbread stuffing, enchiladas, and lemon meringue pie, to name a few.
As her health declined, Jennifer Rakestraw said, her mother remained mentally sharp and once was quick to remind her daughters that she still was the boss.
“She once told me, when she was sick and I guess I tried to make a decision for her, ‘I have a voice,’” her daughter recalled. “I said, ‘Yes, Mom, you do.’ ”
“She was a beautiful lady,” she continued, through tears. “She was loved.”
The family will hold a memorial at a later date.