Eagle Creek Resident Bio: Peggy Watson

Interview conducted March 29, 1910, by Emily Clementine

(Peggy Watson is the mother of Sarah's rival, Lynn Watson.)

1. Name: Peggy Sue Garrett Watson

2. Date of Birth: July 21, 1867

3. Place of Birth: Goldcreek, Montana

4. Parents: Ernest and Ella Garrett

5. Siblings: Brothers: Robert Austin (1859-), Davis Murray (1859-) Sister: Miranda Suzanna (1859-), Ikea Grace (1864-), Victoria Francis (1870-)

6. Describe your childhood. I grew up in a hotel in Helena which my parents managed. It has since closed.

7. What did you enjoy doing as a child? Playing dress up with my friend Constance. Her mother owned a fashion store and we always got to try on the new dresses first.

8. What is your earliest memory? Being dunked in a creek during a Pentecostal revival.

9. How old were you when you went on your first date and where did you go? 13. Me and a neighbor boy named Manly Caprice went to a play. (Do me a favor and tell Lynn I was 16 or I'll never hear the end of it.)
Yes ma'am. -EJC
Thirteen? Thirteen? I got a morality lecture because she saw Tommy and I holding hands during last year's music festival and she GOES OUT ON A DATE AT THIRTEEN? -LW
You and Tommy held hands? -EJC
Yes. Didn't I tell you Tommy and I held hands? -LW
Lynn, Tommy helped you down some steps because you asked him to! -EJC
True; but for three and one half seconds we were holding hands. He also said I had pretty hair. -LW
Oh brother! -EJC
Tommy and I are going to get married some day. After he kisses me just once, he will be mine. -LW
Nice fairy-land you live in, Lynn. -EJC
Pete Jackson wanted to marry me after we... never mind. -LW
As I have already explained to you, Pete Jackson is MY boyfriend if things don't work out between me and Tommy. -EJC

10. Married? George Watson, September 11, 1887 in Vermillion, South Dakota.

11. How did you meet your spouse? George was directing a play. I had spoken to him during the audition but he mostly ignored me. I was more interested in his friend Hank.

Hank told me I got the part. When I showed up the next day, I saw Hank cuddling with another girl. I was distraught and considered quitting the play altogether. However, I instead decided to step outside to gather my thoughts.

When I returned I saw George and somehow, I just knew that he was going to be my husband.

After I went back in, I realized that I had shown up late and he yelled at me! I cried and then he felt bad. He began singing in a silly voice. It made me laugh. When the song was finished he asked, "Will you have dinner with me?" I replied, "Not on your life!"

Those assembled laughed heartily. He turned red as a beet. I felt sorry for the lanky boy so I whispered, "Are you busy Saturday afternoon?"

Two days later we went to the lake. One month later, in the middle of the lake, he proposed.

12. Children: Mary Kate (1889-), Triplets: Gordon, Charles and Samuel (1891-), Lynn (1893-)

13. Grandchildren: Gardenia Evelyn Hines; Mary Kate and Edwin Hines' daughter.

14. Pets? Not permitted in the hotel.

15. Education: Degree in Finance from the University of South Dakota.

16. What brought you to Eagle Creek? When Mary Kate told us about the boy she'd met at nursing school who was from the town of Eagle Creek, we decided to see the town for ourselves.

I was afraid my daughter was dating a savage or an unkempt frontier wildman. Upon seeing this charming hamlet I was smitten. The people here were all so friendly and welcoming.

17. Current friends: Paula Conrad, Jean Clementine, Crystal Hines, Lucille Grant

18. Occupation: Etiquette Instructor.

19. What was your first job? I will tell you ONLY if you promise to not put down what I really did, do I have your promise, Emily?
My lips are sealed ma'am. You can trust me to keep a secret. -EJC
Very well. When I was fourteen, me and a girl friend ran away to Butte. I told my parents that I was going to spend the summer on her grandmother's ranch in Idaho. For two weeks we worked as cigarette girls at a night club.
WHAT? -LW
That is what she told me. -EJC

20. How much did you make? $6 a night.

21. What did you like to do in your free time? Read, listen to chamber music.

22. What are you doing now? Teaching Margaret Buchanan the proper way to enter a room.

23. Do you admire a famous person? Frances Clara Folsom Cleveland

24. What makes them admirable? Her devotion to her husband under very trying circumstances.

25. What is your favorite food? Pheasant

26. What is your favorite color? Shamrock green

27. What is your favorite song? Whispering Hope by Septimus Winner.

28. Hobbies: Gardening, bird calls.

29. Name of the last book you read? Um... I... um... I do not recall the name of the last book I read.
Was it Romero the Pirate: A Tale of Forbidden Passions by Edith Browling? -EJC
No! I would never read a romance novel about an Austrian princess escaping to Key West and falling in love with a rogue pirate who teaches her the seven levels of sensuality.
Of course you wouldn't ma'am. -EJC

30. Tell me about a memorable moment in your life; a time you will never forget.

Being told by George that we were moving to Eagle Creek. I was nervous, angry, happy, hopeful and pessimistic all at the same time.

31. What things do you find yourself doing that you said you'd never do? Um... um... juggle.

32. What are the goals you are still working toward? Huh? What? I wonder if George would get a snake tattoo on his chest? Margaret, go ahead and skip out of the room, the lesson is over.

33. When people look back at your life, how do you want to be remembered? As a devoted wife from a small town in Montana who one day ran off with a 6 foot 4, gruff pirate named Romero.

34. What is your favorite outdoor activity? Huh? What? You're still here?

35. Do you attend church or religious services? Oh, um... yes, um... somewhere.

36. What is your favorite Bible verse? Is there anything about pirates in the Bible?

37. What makes you happy? Finishing novels I never should've read in the first place.

38. What makes you sad? Leave!

39. What frightens you? Scat!

40. What is there about you that would surprise people if they found out? Get lost, Emily!
Dixie Kennedy gets it next. -EJC
Fine.