Peggy & Bill Weidman

Margaret Mary “Peggy” Weidman left this earth on July 6, 2017, just shy two months before her birthday on September 4. Born in Kansas City in 1939 to Margaret and Robert Raynor, she was part of a large Irish Catholic family consisting of four boys and two girls.

Peggy was deeply devoted to her siblings, as they were to her. Photos of her as a child depict a beautiful Irish lass with curly hair and green eyes. She and her younger sister, Patricia, were idolized by their brothers, and woe to anyone who might mistreat them.

Peggy graduated from Bishop Hogan High School in 1956 and enrolled in St. Mary’s Hospital Nursing School in Kansas City. Marriage to William “Bill” Weidman and the eventual birth of five boys, (yes, five boys!) demanded her nursing degree be put on hold. After the Weidmans moved to Fort Smith, she was able to finish her nursing degree at Westark. Always a loyal alumnae of now UAFS, she supported her school with generous financial support as well as actively participating in all the schools’activities for the students, as well as the community, such as UAFS Seasons of Entertainment.

As a child, Peggy loved geography and daydreamed of someday visiting Ireland, riding brightly painted elephants in India, and seeing lions and hippos and giraffes in Africa. Her travels to all seven continents far exceeded her childhood hopes. She knew no fear, and she often traveled alone, making new friends wherever she went. For her friends at home, she often brought little gifts representative of the places she visited.

Fiercely loyal to her family and friends, she was also fiercely determined in all she sought to accomplish, often behind the scenes, to right a wrong, or wherever she saw a need. At age 65, simply because she wanted to, she trained for and completed her first, and only, triathlon.

A lover of good books and good movies, she also loved art museums and the theater and often planned trips to New York City to see musicals or dramas on Broadway or off. She loved music of all kinds, and on St. Patrick’s Day, an Irish jig or a charming ballad could be heard floating throughout the Weidman home. She and Bill also had the best seats in the house for The Fort Smith Symphony.

Perhaps Peggy’s greatest gift to Fort Smith was her involvement in the establishment of the Cancer Support House and The Fountain of Youth Daycare Center. As a nurse, her compassion for those ill with cancer or Alzheimer’s was the driving force that propelled the building of these havens for those with the disease and the offered support for their caregivers.

Peggy is survived by her husband, Bill, to whom she was married for 56 years; her sons Eric, Shaun, Carl and wife Kim; Daniel and wife Kathleen; and Terry and wife Brandy. Fifteen grandchildren who called her Grammy, Mammy, or Granny are: Nick, Emma, Max, Colleen, Nick, Robert David, Lydia, Barrett, Gracie, Matthew, Erica, Casey, James, London, and Brooklyn. Her younger brothers, Jim Raynor and John Raynor, 3 great- grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews are left behind to

mourn the loss of sweet Peggy.

Her parents, brothers Bob and Bill, and sister Patricia O’Keefe preceded her in death. The Christmas lights on the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church are lighted in memory of Patricia who died of cancer, the terrible disease that also took Peggy from us.

The family thanks Peggy’s cherished friends for their love and concern for her and her family. Memorials may be sent to the Bill and Peggy Weidman Nursing Scholarship Endowment at the University of Arkansas – Fort Smith Foundation, Inc. PO Box 3649 Ft. Smith, AR 72913.

May the road rise up to meet you,

May the wind be always at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face,

The rains fall soft upon your fields.

And until we meet again,

May God hold you in the palm of his hand.

Bill. . .

William Murray “Bill” Weidman passed from this earth on July 10, 2017 to join his beloved wife, Peggy, four days after her death on July 6, 2017.

Bill was born on December 7, 1936. His father died when he was only four, and he lived with his mother and older sister in Kansas City, Missouri. He attended Bishop Hogan High School and graduated with a chemical engineering degree from the University of Missouri in Columbia.

Bill and Peggy married following his graduation, and they spent the next 56 years together working as a team, he as a successful business man and she with the shared responsibility of raising and corralling five active sons: Eric, Shaun, Carl, Daniel, and Terry.

Bill and Peggy moved to Fort Smith, and he and a partner co-founded the successful company Co-Plas (coating and plastics) that had factories in five states. That company was eventually sold to the Country of Finland in 1987.

After the sale of Co-Plas, Bill designed and built the first brewery in Arkansas, which necessitated the Arkansas Legislature passing a state law granting him the first license to brew beer in Arkansas. He opened Weidman’s Brewery and Restaurant in a restored rock building that had once been The Joseph Knoble Brewery established in 1848.

Bill purchased a farm in Rudy, north of Fort Smith, and it was there he was his happiest, keeping bees, fishing, gardening, entertaining friends and family, and romping with his companion, Hunter, a big dog who feared no man nor beast.

Unlike his wife who loved beautiful clothes, Bill was content in blue jeans and a t-shirt for his formal attire. Lounge wear was a Kansas City Chiefs sweatshirt, Missouri Tigers pajama bottoms, and a Kansas City Royals jersey. Any Missouri team was the best team, and he was a loyal fan of every sport.

Bill’s favorite saying was “If you can’t buy it at Walmart, then you don’t need it.” His wife, Peg, as he lovingly called her, did not subscribe to that line of thinking. But each allowed the other to follow his or her own interests, which made for an ideal partnership that lasted until her death from cancer and his from a broken heart.

Bill is survived by his sons Eric, Shaun, Carl and wife, Kim; Daniel and wife Kathleen; and Terry and wife, Brandy. Fifteen grandchildren are Nick, Emma, Max, Colleen, Nick, Robert David, Lydia, Barrett, Gracie, Matthew, Erica, Casey, James, London, and Brooklyn. Numerous nieces and nephews are left to mourn their Uncle Bill.

An Irish Prayer for the Dead

Those we love don’t go away,

They walk beside us every day,

Unseen, unheard, but always near,

Still loved, still missed, and very dear.

Services for both Peggy and Bill Weidman will be: Vigil Service will be 6:00 PM Friday, July 14, 2017 at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. The family will visit with friends for refreshments at The Blue Lion 101 N. 2nd Street, Ft. Smith, AR 72901 after the Vigil service.

Funeral Mass will be 10:00 AM Saturday, July 15, 2017 at Immaculate Conception Church with inurnment to follow at Calvary Cemetery. Arrangements and cremation are under the direction of Fentress Mortuary.

Memorials for Bill may be made to The Immaculate Conception Church, 22 North 13th Street, Fort Smith, AR 72901.