Meredith S. (Peg) Edmondson

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222 – July/August, 2024

By The Edmondson Family

Meredith Senterfit Edmondson, 90, died of natural causes on January 6, 2024, at her home, Edmondson Farm, in Nokomis, Florida, where she had operated a horse breeding and show management business since 1980. The farm offered her a parade of horses, dogs, cats, and other animals which, along with her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, lent meaning and structure to her life.

“Peg” was born in Sarasota in 1933, when it was a village of about 10,000 people. She grew up in an extended family with a single mother who served as their housekeeper. She never stopped yearning for her beloved grandfather, who died when she was six. She contracted rheumatic fever, which kept her out of school for the first and second grades. She also had two talented brothers, so she was loved and cared for but often left to her own devices.

Alone at home, she worked on developing the skills of a coach and trainer. “There were always stray cats around,” she said, “and I took care of about 12 of them. They loved me, and I loved them.” She liked to remember going out to her small back yard, lining up the cats, and teaching them to sit quietly as she doled out treats to each one.

“My aunt Doris taught me to read,” she said in 2021, “but she didn’t teach me how to write. When I finally got into school in the third grade, I could read and spell anything, but I couldn’t write anything down. It seems funny now, but at the time it was mortifying. The teacher called my mother because I was flunking out. We had a meeting and I said, “Ask me some words, like Constantinople.” I could spell anything I could hear. Eventually, I became a star pupil.

Click here to read the complete article
222 – July/August, 2024