Sister Margaret (Peggy) Offley SNDdeN

September 5, 1926 – April 13, 2020

Sister Margaret (Peggy) Offley (formerly Sr. Robert ) We remember with gratitude the life of Sister Peggy Offley, who was a Sister of Notre Dame de Namur for 74 years. She died peacefully at Mercy Retirement and Care Center in Oakland, where she had been lovingly cared for these past three years. Previously, she was part of the Notre Dame Province Center community in Belmont.

Born in Washington, DC, Peggy moved frequently due to her father’s military commitments during World War II and afterwards. She attended schools in four states and four California high schools, including Notre Dame in Marysville, before she graduated from Convent of the Sacred Heart, San Francisco.

Even as a Sister, Peggy continued her travels. Over the next forty years, she taught in many Notre Dame schools in California, Washington and Hawaii. Fifth graders were her favorites. She also enjoyed the opportunity to assist at the Sisters’ international headquarters in Rome, and at the Notre Dame House of Prayer in Carmel. In her last ministry she enjoyed tutoring children in math, reading and writing at Notre Dame Elementary School in Belmont.

Sr. Peggy loved teaching and was happy living in community, but for her, the special blessing of her life in Notre Dame was the way she was led closer to God. “Regardless of our ministry,” she said, “our congregation wants us to become better persons, not just good teachers.” She described her retirement years as a time “to be loving and kind to all the people around me.”

Ann Comer, health care coordinator for the Sisters in California, described

Sr. Peggy as “very, very endearing. She always made me smile because she enjoyed life and had so much joy in her being.” Thoughtful, gentle, with a quiet sense of humor and a delight in life’s surprises, Sr. Peggy was grateful for God’s grace and for good friends in her life.

She was preceeded in death by her parents Col. Robert and Margaret Offley, her brother Col. Robert Offley and her sister Alice Roos. Sr. Peggy will be remembered and missed by her nieces and nephews, her many former students, her friends and by her Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. A Memorial Mass honoring Sr. Peggy’s life will be offered at a later date. Memorial contributions may be made to Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, 1520 Ralston Avenue, Belmont, CA 94002 or online at snddenwest.org.