Margaret "Peg" Elizabeth Gerhardt Blanton

BLANTON, Margaret (Peg) Elizabeth Gerhardt, was at home on December 14, 2024, when she peacefully and happily left Earth for Heaven. Peg was predeceased by her loving husband of 44 years, McAllister Blanton, her parents Col. Jacob J. Gerhardt and Ruth McCann Gerhardt, her in-laws Col. William Lee Blanton, Sr. and Mary McAllister Blanton, her brother-in-law William Lee Blanton Jr., brother-in-law Phillip Taylor Blanton, and her son-in-law William Sanderson Grizzard, MD, and her brother James Martin Gerhardt.

She is survived by her four daughters and three sons-in-law, Gerhardt “Gerhie” Blanton Richardson (Marc), of Santa Rosa, CA; Leenetta “Lee” Blanton Grizzard Carden (Bob) of Tampa and Winter Haven; Marabeth “Beth” Blanton, formerly of Charlotte, NC, now of Tampa; and Mary Martha “Molly” Blanton (Carl Wilson) of Valrico; her grandchildren, Scott Sanderson Grizzard, of Tampa; William Christopher Grizzard, Sr., (Betsy) of Tampa; Tyler Blanton Wilson (Richele), of Charlotte, NC; Riley Blanton Wilson, of Winter Park; her great-grandchildren, Margaret “Maggie” Sanderson Grizzard, William “Will” Christopher Grizzard, Jr., Vivian “Vivi” Elizabeth Grizzard, Skyler Rayne Wilson, Shiloh Winter Wilson, and Summer Marie Wilson; her sister-in-law, Jesse B. Blanton, and many nieces and nephews and cousins..

Peg was born in Walter Reed Army General Hospital in Washington, DC, and grew up as a self-described “Army Brat”, the daughter of a career Army officer. She lived at multiple Army postings including Fort Eustis, Virginia; Corvalis, Oregon; Oahu, Hawaii; Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas; Bismarck, North Dakota; Lincoln, Nebraska; and Ft. McCoy, Wisconsin.

She earned a BA degree in Foreign Languages from what was then known as the University of Omaha in Nebraska. Peg met Mac Blanton, the love of her life, at the Officers’ Club in Nebraska upon his return from Europe where he served with distinction three years during World War II in the 254th Infantry of the 63 Division. Peg graduated from college in the Summer of 1949, and married Mac on December 23, 1949, in Sparta, Wisconsin. They moved to Gainesville, Florida where they lived until Mac graduated from the University of Florida School of Architecture, after which they moved to Tampa where Peg resided for the rest of her life.

Peg spent many years as a substitute teacher primarily at Wilson Jr. High School and H.B. Plant High School before finding her true creative joy working with her friends Sandy and Bill Schmidt at Schmidt’s Gallery. Throughout her life Peg also enjoyed and was accomplished in many other creative endeavors including sewing clothes for her girls, needlepoint, knitting, ceramics, quilting, rescuing caterpillars and releasing Monarch butterflies, and pursing her life-long passion of shell collecting, amassing an impressive collection of seashells from the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, the South China Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico.

Peg was a faithful member of Palma Ceia Methodist Church, 3723 Bay to Bay Boulevard in Tampa for 70 years. A Celebration of Life will be held there in the Sanctuary on Tuesday, January 7, 2025, at 11:00 a.m., The Rev. Bruce Toms officiating, with a reception following in the Fellowship Hall.