Mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, teacher

Longtime Claremont, Pomona and La Verne resident Peggy Heimerl died on May 29, 2012 in Arcadia. She was 90.

Born in Pomona on March 27, 1922 as Mary Margaret (but always known as Peggy), she and her siblings, Helen and Richard (“Bud”), were the children of Ethelbert Johnson and Margaret Parke. 

Mrs. Heimerl attended Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy; Pomona College; California State University, Los Angeles; and Claremont Graduate School (now University). On November 1, 1942, she married Edward Heimerl in Pomona. Mr. Heimerl served in the US Navy during World War II. 

After the war, Mrs. Heimerl and her husband lived in Pomona until they built their own home in Claremont, moving here in 1948 and raising 2 children, Richard (born in 1944) and Diane (born in 1946).

After her husband’s death in August 1959, Mrs. Heimerl returned to school and began teaching fifth and sixth grade at Sumner Elementary School in Claremont. She retired in 1984 and eventually moved to La Verne.

Mrs. Heimerl was very active in the local PTA and Park Avenue Hospital Auxiliary and enjoyed her involvement in square-dancing, duplicate bridge, ladies barbershop quartet, local elections, Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Church in Claremont, ceramics, line-dancing and various artistic endeavors. She loved music and was a gifted poet.

In retirement, she traveled throughout the world and stayed active with her large extended family. She wrote “legacy letters” to her grandchildren (and later to other family members) once a week while they were in college, and then once a month until the last few years of her life. 

Mrs. Heimerl is survived by her sister, Helen Johnson Setzer; her son, Richard Heimerl; her grandchildren, Heather Heimerl Brunold, Edward Siebert, John Siebert, Matthew Heimerl and David Heimerl; her 6 great-grandchildren; and by many nieces, nephews and cousins. She was preceded in death by her husband, Edward Heimerl; her brother, Richard Johnson; and her daughter, Diane Siebert. 

A memorial service was held on June 9, 2012 at Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy in La Cañada Flintridge. Mrs. Heimerl’s ashes were interred at Oak Park Cemetery in Claremont.

Memorial donations may be made to Futures for Children, an American Indian charity, www.futuresforchildren.org; or the Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose, www.msjdominicans.org.