MARGARET (PEG) SHERMAN Margaret Louise Heckman Sherman, known as “Peg,” completed her life’s journey on April 25th 2011 at Foxdale Retirement Center in State College, PA, where she had resided since 1992. As a Non-Governmental Representative to the United Nations from the American Baptist Convention from 1979 through 1991, she had worked on a variety of global Christian concerns, including problems of hunger and the care of children. Before taking up that appointment, she served for four decades as a Christian education director in several churches while raising three children with her late husband Donald L. Sherman, a YMCA director. After moving to State College, in 1994 she co-founded and served as first President of the Centre County Chapter of United Nations Association of the USA, a non-governmental organization (NGO) which supports the work and activities of the UN. Born on December 22, 1916, in Centre Hall, PA, Peg was the daughter of Ruth Rossman and William O. Heckman of Tusseyville. Her father was a teacher who served several Pennsylvania communities before settling in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Peg graduated from Asbury Park High School in 1934, then went on to study at the Tennent College of Christian Education in Philadelphia, a Presbyterian school now incorporated within the Princeton Theological Seminary. After graduating from Tennent , she married her husband Donald, of Belmar, New Jersey, in 1939. Peg served as Educational Director on the staff of St. James Methodist Church in Philadelphia, the Roseville Presbyterian Church in Newark, N.J., and two American Baptist USA churches: Emmanuel Baptist in Ridgewood, N.J. and Bethesda First Baptist in Bethesda, MD. During World War II she was on the program staff of the Army/Navy YMCA of Philadelphia while her husband served in the U.S. Navy. Peg was also a volunteer in many causes. She served as President of Church Women United in Schenectady, NY, Ridgewood, N.J. and Rockville, MD. She was on the General Board of American Baptist Churches, USA. A certified lay minister for American Baptist Churches in Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, she was a guest preacher in many churches around the US. She also spoke and led workshops and seminars at many domestic and international meetings and conferences. In 1993 she received the American Baptist Convention’s Edwin T. Dahlberg Peace Award, in recognition of her work with the United Nations. Peg’s husband Donald died at Foxdale in 2009. Peg is survived by her daughter Marda Schropp of Bryn Mawr, PA, and two sons, Robert of Leicester, VT and Lawrence of Cambridgeshire, England. A Memorial Service is scheduled for Monday, August 29, 2011, at 4:00 PM, with interment at the Church in Tusseyville. Donations in lieu of flowers may be sent at any time to the Centre County Branch of the United Nations Association USA at UNA-USA Centre County Chapter 539 Beaumont Dr., State College , PA 16801 or contact@UNACentreCountyPA.com.
