Sun Person of the Year: Peggy Nash
ANNA MARIA – If you’ve ever stepped into the Roser Guild Thrift Shop or attended one of the church’s events, you’ve likely seen Peggy Nash hard at work volunteering, taking photos or helping someone else out with whatever they need.
If you’re lucky, you’ve had one of her famous orange cookies.
Known affectionately as Mrs. Peggy, Nash has been a force for good in the Anna Maria community for more than 40 years. After moving to Anna Maria in June of 1977 with her husband, Bob, Nash said she joined Roser Memorial Community Church the first Sunday after they arrived.
In speaking with The Sun on Dec. 30, Nash recalled the move to Anna Maria fondly, noting that her son, Clark, encouraged the couple to relocate to the Island community and that her husband bought their first home before she’d even seen it. They relocated to another home in Anna Maria to accommodate the tower needed for Bob’s tarpon fishing in 1982 and Nash has lived there ever since.
“I feel very blessed,” Nash said. “It’s a nice community.”
Though the community has changed over the years, Nash said she embraces the change, including the visitors who frequent the homes on either side of hers.
“To me, it’s the best place in the world to live,” she said.
The location close to the church, Nash said, has been a blessing because it allows her to spend her days doing what she loves – volunteering to help better the church and community.
As one of the founders of the Roser Guild Thrift Shop, Nash can frequently be spotted checking in new merchandise, straightening shelves and helping customers. In addition to her volunteer work at the thrift shop, Nash is an active member of the women’s guild, the Roser missions committee, which distributes funds to local nonprofits, the Naomi Circle, All Island Denominations, Church Women United and the church’s Grief Share ministry. She’s also a Stephen Minister and volunteers with the Roser-Robics senior workout group. When she has a free moment, Nash can be found taking photographs at church and local events, writing press releases to accompany those photographs to local media outlets or baking batches of her orange cookies to give out at events.
In celebration of her 90th birthday, Nash made dozens of orange cookies and packaged them individually to be given out to everyone in attendance that Sunday at Roser.
The urge to volunteer and give back to the community is something Nash learned from her grandmother and mother and something she’s passed on to her four sons and their families, who she said help out their communities in any way they can.
Speaking about Nash, Roser financial administrator Matt Meehan said her strength, especially in how she approaches life changes, is an inspiration to many.
“I’ve learned a lot from her,” Charles Wade, facilities administrator at Roser, said of Nash. “She’s very, very, very active. We appreciate her and everything that she does.”
“She’s so involved in almost any event, any church event that’s going on. If you go there, you’ll see Peggy there. She’s always around and very engaged. She has a really, really amazing energy,” Brandon Kouri said. Kouri is the assistant director of music ministries at Roser. “She just seems like she’s doing so much all the time. She always has her camera; she’s always snapping wonderful pictures all the time.”
“When I came here in November of 2020, she was one of the first people to greet me. She was sending me emails before I even got here saying ‘we can’t wait for you to be here.’ Every week she’s checking in with me to make sure I’m okay,” Roser pastor Rev. Dirk Rodgers said, commending Nash for her involvement in the church.
“If I described her in one phrase, she’s a constant encouragement. I hope I have that energy in five years, let alone when I get to be her age. I wish I had that energy now,” he said. “She’s definitely an encouragement and example to all of us.”
“She does a lot to bring the community to Roser and Roser to the community,” office administrator Nikkiah Jaworski said. “She just does a ton, as much as she can possibly do, she’ll do and then some. She’ll go the extra mile and never complains.”
“She’s just really, really an amazing lady,” Craig Ramberger, director of music ministries at Roser, said of Nash, adding that he’s nicknamed her the Energizer Bunny because she “just never seems to stop.”
Though she doesn’t see herself stepping away from her volunteer work in the community that she loves, Nash said she hopes to slow down a little bit in the coming year to allow other people to step up and get involved. Wherever people feel led to volunteer, if it’s in a local church, with a theater group, with animals, at a community center or any other organization, she said she hopes they will embrace the challenge and work to make a positive difference in their communities.
“Groups, churches, they always need volunteers,” Nash said. “I hope more people will step up and get involved.”
