Margaret "Peg" Nunamaker

Obituary Margaret "Peg" L. (Baker) Nunamaker, wife of Donald Nunamaker, mother of Meggin Nunamaker, passed away on Saturday, January 29, 2011 in Lexington, KY after a short illness. Peg was born on December 31, 1951 in Bradford, PA, daughter of the late William A. and Shirley M. (Backer) Baker. In addition to her husband and daughter, Peg is survived by her Aunt Barbara Backer of Limestone, NY and her two closest friends Barbara Black of Bradford, PA, and Wendy Lakes of Nicholasville, KY. Peg attended school in Bradford and graduated from Bradford High School in 1969 where she was a member of the Bradford Owl's Rifle team and graduated with honors. She then attended college at Murray State University in Murray, KY on a Rifle Scholarship where she graduated with a BS in Biology and a minor in Chemistry. After college, Peg returned home to take care of the family business. She started the rifle team and became the Rifle Coach at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford Campus (UPB) where she led her team to a Collegiate Junior National Championship in 1979. She met her husband (Don) at UPB in September, 1977 and married him August 11, 1979. Peg's love of baseball and softball began at an early age when her Dad taught her how to catch. She started coaching girl's softball while attending college. Once she returned home, Peg co-coached the Derrick City Pigtail softball teams. Peg taught the girls not only the fundamentals of softball, but more importantly sportsmanship, teamwork, acceptance of others and friendship. Peg also played on local women's fast pitch and slow pitch softball teams where she also learned to officiate the sport. Peg left Bradford to be with her husband when he joined the Air Force in 1980. They spent 2 years in Tucson, AZ and then moved to Germany were she carried on as an umpire by officiating for the military intramural leagues. While in Germany, Peg had a baby girl (Meggin) in 1983. They then moved to Mid West City, OK where she continued officiating for the military and local community, both girls and adults for the next 4 years. Peg then followed her husband back to Germany where she spent the next 15 years in the Kaiserslautern area. Once there, she joined the largest sports official's association outside the United States, the Kaiserslautern Officials Association (KOA). She officiated girls slow/fast pitch softball, and the intramural and community teams for the Air Force and Army. Peg traveled all over Germany doing what she loved best, calling softball. Peg also started officiating volleyball. She then moved to the next level by being the commissioner of officials for both softball and volleyball. As one of the best officials in Europe, Peg excelled at training the official's by teaching them more than the fundamentals and rules of the sport. Her passion and attitude for sports rubbed off on all those she came in contact with. Many umpires new and experienced alike thanked her for giving them an understanding of the game they never knew. Peg then became involved with running the KOA by holding each of the KOA Board positions. She became the President of the KOA in the mid 1990's and while as President she was instrumental in starting the Department of Defense Dependant Schools Girl's High School fast pitch softball league in Europe. Peg lost her sight in January 2003, but that didn't slow her down. She did give up officiating though, and she was jokingly told many times that being blind shouldn't affect the way she called softball. She continued to serve as a Board member for the KOA and commissioned both softball and volleyball until she departed Germany in November 2005. Peg and her family then lived in Hawaii for the next two and a half years. In March 2008 Peg did a final move to Richmond, KY where she and her husband bought a home and settled down to live. Funeral Information A Memorial Service will be held at Dana Field in Bradford, PA on April 16, 2011 at 11:00 am. Peg's longtime friend Reverend Dorothy Densmore will lead in the celebration of Peg's life. Those in attendance will be given an opportunity to speak. Dress will be casual (blue jeans). There will be a luncheon following the service at the Limestone Community Center in Limestone, NY at 12:30 pm.