Matilda Josephine Peklay

"Matilda Peklay passed away on September 29, 2017, at the age of 101. Matilda (Vidmar) was born March 16, 1916, in Johnston City, Illinois. Her younger brother, Frank Vidmar, proceeded her in death in 2007. Not much is known about her younger years other than they must have been hard. Her Parents were Immigrants from Slovania (Jugoslavia), her mother, Anna, ran a boarding house and her father, Joseph, was a coal miner. Matilda left school in the 8th grade to help support her family. At age 14, passing for 16, she got her first job at Sears Roebuck in the Catalog Shipping department in Chicago, Illinois. In the late 20s Matilda and her close girl friend, Mitzie, frequently joined other Slovanian young adults at the local Slovenic Halls for parties and dancing. At one such party she met William Peklay, marrying him in 1939. Bill and Tillie moved to Vancouver, Washington, living in what was then the Vancouver Heights at the start of WWII. Bill worked at the Kaiser Ship Yards building ships for the War. Matilda spent the years raising her daughters, making sure they had good educations, enjoyed their music and the arts. During the summers Bill and Tillie would load their daughters in the Ford Stationwagon and travel with Bill on his jobs for Electric Steele, Portland, all over the US. While Bill worked, Tillie and her daughters would explore whatever the area they happened to be in. Tillie loved to travel. At age 43 she went back to school. She received her GED and went on to an AA in business at Clark College, studying literature, business, French, Spanish (she spoke 4 languages) and the new computer technology. She was the first in her family to own a computer. In 1959 the family moved to Minnesota, then Danville, Illinois, until 1963, when Bill and Till returned to Vancouver, Washington, to live for the next 30 years in their home overlooking the Columbia River. After Bills retirement they traveled through Europe several times and to the Orient. Bill passed away in 2003. In her later years, always being very artistic, she started oil painting and expanded to award winning china painting and china lace dolls. She took up playing the accordion and piano again, cheering on the Blazers and reading about everything, although Bingo was her favorite past time. She continued to play Bingo twice a week until she passed away. Matilda is survived by her 3 daughters, Bobbie Ferrero-Holtzclaw (Kent), JoAnn Owen and Fran Prouse (Richard), 6 grandchildren, 7 great-grandchildren and 3 great-great-grandchildren. Services will be held at Evergreen Memorial Gardens, 1101 NE 112th Avenue, Vancouver, Washington, on Sunday, October 8, 2017, at 10:00am. In lieu of flowers, please donate to the to the ALS Foundation or your favorite charity.

Matilda Josephine Peklay

March 16, 1916 - September 29, 2017