Peg Doms was born on August 5, 1920, in Bluffton, Indiana. Her parents were Albert Hoyt Taylor and Emma Hickman Taylor. She grew up in Washington, DC.
Peg attended college at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and graduated with a BA in American Institutions and a BLS (Bachelor of Library Science). While there, she met Keith Doms, a fellow student, whom she married a few years later on April 1, 1944.
While living in Concord, New Hampshire, where Keith began his career, Peg organized a Welcome Wagon program with heavy emphasis on community life. A few years later, in Midland, Michigan, Keith and Peg started a family. During and after raising their two sons in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, Peg contributed many hours of volunteer time, during which she:
• Organized a pioneering series of inter-racial dialog groups in Pittsburgh in the 1960s, entailing monthly gatherings in homes.
• Instructed school children about the natural world at Schuylkill Valley Nature Center in Philadelphia, PA.
• Taught ESL for visiting Chinese scholars in Philadelphia in the 1980s as China was re-opening to the world. In addition to teaching, Peg and Keith provided a home for several scholars over about five years, and involved them and many others in various activities and travels to introduce them to life in the U.S. She later applied her familiarity with Chinese language and culture to lead a delegation of American librarians for a six-week tour of China and other Asian countries.
After their children went on to college, Peg worked as a law librarian for several years. During that time, the Greater Philadelphia Law Library Association appointed her to lead a committee that established a consultancy to help private and public law libraries provide better services to their users.
Throughout all of these years, Peg shared her love of gardening and birding, and was a student of natural history. One of her favorite areas was Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Kempton, Pennsylvania. After moving to State College to live at Foxdale Village, Peg enthusiastically engaged with the Foxdale community and her many friends there. She contributed her energies to many community-oriented endeavors, including the Oral History Project. She also became an active member of the State College Friends Meeting.
Peg was preceded in death by Keith, her loving husband of 65 years, and is survived by their two sons, Peter and David, and their families. A memorial service will be held at 1:00 pm on January 10, 2015, at the Foxdale Village auditorium. Memorial contributions may be made to the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary at 1700 Hawk Mountain Road, Kempton, PA, 19529, or the Foxdale Village Community Fund at Foxdale Village, Attn: Development Office, 500 E. Marylyn Avenue, State College, PA 16801.