The Iditarod community embraces DeeDee Jonrowe and her sister, Linda Schultz, with heartfelt sympathy in the passing of their mother, Peg Stout, on July 21, 2015. Stout was about as invested in Iditarod as a musher’s mother could possibly be. As a lifelong educator she also had professional reasons for embracing the Last Great Race®.
Peg Stout with her daughter DeeDee Jonrowe at the ceremonial start in Anchorage 2008
With her husband serving in the military, Peg has lived in many places around the world including Germany, Libya, Greece, Ethiopia, Japan, and the states of Virginia, Massachusetts, Texas and Oklahoma In 1971, just about the time Joe Redington and Dorothy Page were gathering support for the newly conceived Iditarod, a final military assignment brought the Stout family to Alaska. With the first Iditarod in 1973, Peg became an ardent fan. Her excitement over Iditarod was hugely apparent and extremely contagious. After Peg’s oldest daughter, DeeDee, graduated from college and took a job in Bethel, she caught the mushing bug and took up the sport. Now Jonrowe has thirty Iditarod finishes and is easily one of the most popular mushers of all time.
Peg has been DeeDee’s most ardent backer in her thirty-three Iditarod starts. Even in 2015, with the start being re-located in Fairbanks, Peg was there to see DeeDee, wearing bib 29 over her traditional pink parka, and the Jonrowe dogs, wearing pink booties, take to the trail. Peg didn’t brave the cold temperatures for all 78 mushers. When it grew near to the time when bib #29 would leave the staging area, a vehicle pulled into an open parking spot along the trail leading to the chute. A small sled equipped with a chair was unloaded. Peg climbed out of the vehicle and seated herself in the chair on the sled, then was towed to the chute to see DeeDee off on yet another trip to Nome.
Peg has served in numerous volunteer positions supporting the race for as many years as DeeDee has run the Iditarod, if not more. A few days after the 2015 re-start in Fairbanks when the mushers were passing through Tanana, Peg was volunteering right in the heart of all the action. She was doing a shift in the computer center at Iditarod Headquarters filing race statistics. Over the years, she’s been a regular in the computer center.
Loving the out-of-doors and wanting to be in the thick of the race, Peg has made her way to Skwentna more than once to lend a hand. As the second checkpoint of the race, Skwentna is a very intense checkpoint staffed by some 45 volunteers. Peg would schedule herself a seat on the mail plane. When the plane landed in Skwentna, postmaster Joe Delia would arrive by snowmachine to pick the mail up, and Peg would hitch a ride to the checkpoint with him as he returned to the post office with the mail.
“Apple crisp for everyone? No problem,” said Peg, “I’ll be glad to peel and slice the apples.”
From the moment she walked in the door of the checkpoint, she was ready, willing and able to go to work. She always wore a smile and could tell stories with the best of them. Skwentna checkpoint, with a population 2 for most of the year, expanded to 45 or more when all the volunteers arrived and then on the first night of the race it grew by another 75 or so mushers. Apple crisp for everyone? “No problem,” says Peg, “I’ll be glad to peel and slice the apples.” That was only one of the MANY tasks she helped with while volunteering on the trail. After the race had passed through Skwentna, Peg would find her way back to Anchorage on the mail plane to take almost daily shifts at race headquarters. Then, as the race neared the Bering Sea, Peg would fly to Nome. She was at the burled arch to greet not only DeeDee but many other mushers.
Even before DeeDee began racing, Peg, who followed the Iditarod as a fan and volunteer, was mesmerized by the race. In an interview printed in the 2012 Race guide, Peg said, “While I was working as an elementary school librarian for the Anchorage Public Schools, I was always looking for a way to get more students, especially boys, interested in reading.” Peg realized Iditarod was the answer. She continued, “There couldn’t be a better way to accomplish this goal than to combine animals and adventure along with learning more about Alaska. We talked about the Iditarod, parents were involved helping make booties and DeeDee came to the school for a visit. The staff and parents were very supportive. A father made me a big map of Alaska which I took with me to other schools. I first started this program in the early years of the Northern Lights ABC School and later at Creekside and Mountain View schools. Iditarod motivates children. One of my proudest moments was when I got a letter from a mother who said it was the first time her son had ever finished a book.” The boy read the entire book participating in Peg’s Reading Race to Nome. Peg also added the Geography Race to Nome to her list of Iditarod-inspired learning activities.
When it was time for Anchorage school children to study women in history, Peg once again turned to Iditarod. In 1992 she authored an instructional booklet, Alaska Women in the Iditarod, for use in the Anchorage schools during the month of March to celebrate and honor Alaska women who have excelled in sports. Peg wrote biographies introducing Libby Riddles, Susan Butcher, DeeDee Jonrowe, Beverly Jerue Masek and others. She described in detail their courage, work ethic and determination. Also included were biographies of the women who assisted in coordinating and organizing the race, as well as Karin Schmidt, who not only has run the Iditarod, but served as Chief Veterinarian in 1992. Stout included objectives, classroom activities and discussion questions with each of the biographies. All of this she did several years before the Iditarod Trail Committee sent Andrea “Finney” Auf der Heyde out as the first Iditarod Teacher on the Trail™ in 1999. Peg was truly a pioneer in using the Iditarod as a theme for education.
First Iditarod Teacher on the Trail, Andrea “Finney” Auf der Heyde and Friend of Education, Peg Stout
Peg served on the Iditarod Education Committee, the group responsible for selecting the teacher sent out on the trail each race to act as a liaison and direct link between the trail and classrooms, teachers and students around the world. Over the years, she’s read many applications and participated in numerous interviews and selection process activities. When the chosen teacher arrived in Alaska for the race, Peg might accompany him/her to classroom presentations in the Anchorage schools. She offered insightful advice, encouragement and always a warm smile for the teacher while he/she prepared for the trail. In 2012, after years of dedicated service on the Iditarod Education Committee, Peg was honored as a Friend of Education. Her love for students, her desire to motivate kids, her pioneer spirit, and her insight into what works with young learners has had an immense and positive impact upon the lives of countless numbers of children.
Peg Stout honored as Friend of Education in 2012 with DeeDee Jonrowe and Blynne Froke 2012 Iditarod Teacher on the Trail™
Laura Wright, the 2016 Iditarod Teacher on the Trail™, had the opportunity to meet Peg Stout at the Volunteer and Musher Signup Picnic only a few weeks ago. Laura and Peg conversed for quite some time. Their conversation perhaps included a story or two about successes that Iditarod has brought to the classroom. Later, Laura said, “It was such a rare pleasure to sit down and visit with Peg at Iditarod Headquarters this summer. I would not have the honor of being the iditarod Teacher on the Trail™ without the passion of people like Peg early in the formation of the Iditarod Education Department. Peg saw the value of bringing the Last Great Race on Earth® to classrooms around the world to enrich literacy programs and inspire students. I am so grateful to help carry on her legacy this year.”
Peg Stout with musher DeeDee Jonrowe at the Volunteer and Musher Signup Picnic in June 2015
Peg, like the mushers you wrote about in Alaska Women in the Iditarod, you too have lived your life demonstrating a strong work ethic, tremendous courage, and remarkable determination. You have been a blessing to family, friends, the Iditarod community and untold numbers of teachers and students. May you rest in peace.
*Condolences to Peg’s family, including DeeDee’s husband, Mike Jonrowe, Iditarod Board Member and her many friends.
