Peggy Duffin

Margaret A “Peg” or “Peggy” Duffin was born on January 4, 1938 in Spokane, Washington to Leonard and Cecelia Goughnour.  At the tender age of two weeks, she moved to her home town of Missoula.

Her father died in an accident when she was a year and a half old.  Her mother could not raise her, so she went to live with her maternal grandparents, Joseph and Alosha Miller.

She attended St Frances grade school and Sacred Heart Academy for girls, graduating in 1956.  Her grandmother passed away 1955. She attended Montana State University (in Missoula) for one year.

She loved to dance and belonged to the Live Wire Dance club for young adults.  On May 27th, 1958 the club decided on a swimming night at Lolo Hot Springs.  Since her boyfriend was out of town, she walked to the Moose Lodge, where the club held their dances, to get a ride to Lolo.  When she arrived, all of the cars were fill except one.  There was a boy whose brother wrecked his car two days earlier that also walked to the meeting place and they were paired up in the car with a vacancy.  They had never met before, but they did get along fairly well that night.

A couple of weeks later, Lin got her phone number from one of the people that knew her, called and asked for a date, which she foolishly accepted.  They dated off and on for a few months and then decided to be exclusive.  Had she known that her future husband was a Junior in Hight School, she would never have dated him, but by then it was too late, she had fallen in love.

When Linden “Lin” duffin graduated from High school in 1958, they decided to get married, which they did on August 7.  They moved to Tacoma, Washington where Lin went to work for Boeing Aircraft company in Seattle.  The following August, there was a big layoff of over 5,000 employees.  Since Lin was new to the company, he got the axe.

They moved back to Missoula in 1959 where Lin went to work in a butcher shop.  Their first child, Michael, was born on December 7 that year.  When work got slow, Lin was laid off again in June 1960.  Getting tired of losing his job without cause, Peg and Lin talked about his going back to school to get an education in accounting.  He started in the fall of 1960.  All the way through college, Lin worked at Eddy’s Bakery as a janitor and Peg worked part-time as a librarian.  Their second child, Linda, was born in August 1961 followed by Lisa in December 1962.

Lin had to take time off college periodically to work two jobs so he could pay for his schooling.  He finally graduated in June 1966 and took a job as a staff accountant in Conrad.  He passed his CPA exam that year.  In March 1967, their third child, Mark, joined the family.  Lin had a chance to buy a very small practice in Chester and they decided to take the risk, which paid off.  They moved to Chester in August 1967 and established their office. In January 1970, Martin decided to join the clan, completing their family.

In 1973, Peg went to the office to help catch up on some typing and she forgot to go home.  In 2014, after 47 years, they reluctantly retired due to age and health.  On January 4, 2018 Peg celebrated her 80th birthday with all of her kids present, except Mike, who passed away in 1995.

For the first time since Marty was born, on March 1, 2018 Peg entered the hospital and passed away in the early morning of Tuesday, March 6 with family surrounding her.

She was predeceased by her parents, grandparents, son Michael, and grandson Matthew. She is survived by her husband of 59  ½ years, Lin; children Linda and Darryl Ford of Federal Way, Washington; Lisa Duffin of Issaquah, Washington; Mark and Marla Duffin of Missoula, Montana; Martin and Sarah Duffin of Cedar City, Utah; Grandchildren Elizabeth and Kenny Jefferson of Bosier City, Louisiana; Joseph Kirgan of Renton, Washington; Nicole Ford of Charlotte, North Carolina; Bill and Felicia Duffin of Chester, Montana; Melanie and Melissa Duffin of Bettendorf, Iowa;  and Great grandsons, Matthew and Kevin Jefferson of Bosier City, Louisiana.

Vigil services will be held Friday, March 9, at 7pm at St. Mary Catholic Church.

Funeral mass will be held Saturday, March 10, at 2pm at the church.