Three months after celebrating her 106th birthday, Anna (Parker) Peeke Bryan—known to her friends as Anne—passed away in the early morning hours of July 6, 2025 in the residential care center Victoria Home in Montgomery Village, Maryland in the loving presence of her daughter Julie Melnick, and son-in law and physician Dr. John Melnick.
Anne is preceded in death by her parents Alban Lowry Parker and Miriam (Aungst) Parker, her brothers Paul, Richard and Victor Parker, her first husband Jewell Wilson Peeke, and her second husband William Bryan. She is survived by her children Julie (John) and Victor (Claudia), her grandchildren Todd, Ryan and Mindy and their respective spouses Marisa, Marla and Benton, and her six great-grandchildren Lyle, Anna, Penelope, Andrew, Benjamin and Ananda.
Born in Media, Pennsylvania on April 3, 1919, Anne spent her childhood years there. Starting in ninth grade, she attended Plainfield Academy, a Seventh-day Adventist boarding high school in New Jersey, where she made life-long friends referred to by her children as “Aunt” Kitty, “Aunt” Anne, “Aunt” Lillian, and “Aunt” Dottie. In 1937 she entered Washington Missionary College, where she graduated in 1940 with a degree in education.
After briefly teaching in the Hagerstown Seventh-day Adventist Elementary School, Anne married Jewell Wilson Peeke (whom she had met in college) on February 2, 1941. Their daughter, Julianne (Peeke) Melnick, was born on July 27, 1945, when Jewell was deployed to Tinian during World War II. Their son, Victor Peeke, was born on November 2, 1949.
Anne was a devoted homemaker but when her youngest child Victor started grade school, she took up a job at John Nevins Andrews Elementary School, first as a second-grade teacher and later as the school’s first librarian. Anne, a beloved school teacher and librarian, was sent notes of appreciation from former students for years afterwards, including her last birthday of 106.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Maryland was at the heart of Anne and her husband Jewell’s professional and personal lives. Jewell was the President of Risk Management Services of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. Anne, a hospitable and sociable person, had many close friends at Sligo Church where she was active as a deaconess, kindergarten leader, greeter and receptionist, among other things.
Family was another cornerstone of Anne’s life. When she was sadly widowed after 37 years of marriage to her husband Jewell Peeke, she married William Bryan, who passed away a few years later. During this time she remained a devoted mother, grandmother, and later great-grandmother. In 1996 she moved next door to her children, Victor and Julie, in Clarksburg, Maryland.
Due to ailing health, Anne moved in with Julie in 2010. In 2021, she moved to Victoria Home in Montgomery Village. Her last years were made more comfortable by caregivers Mirna, Maureen, Ingrid, Yolanda, Carmen, Mellie, and—in the residential care facility—by Viktor F., Marta and Sonia, and brightened by frequent visits from Julie, John, and Victor, as well as occasional visits from grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Anne’s memorial service will be held in the Atrium of Sligo Church in Takoma Park, Maryland at 4 P.M. on Saturday, July 12. This will be followed by a private burial at George Washington Cemetery on Sunday, July 13. Donations can be made in her honor to Voice of Prophecy or the Adventist Development and Relief Agency International (ADRA).
