LIFE ISN’T MEASURED BY THE NUMBER OF BREATHS WE TAKE,
BUT BY THE MOMENTS THAT TAKE OUR BREATH AWAY

Peggy passed suddenly in the arms of her husband, Putter (Randy), at their home on December 30th, 2021. She had been at home since Christmas Eve recovering. She went to be with her Lord and Savior very quickly with no pain.

Peggy was born on December 20th, 1956 in Plentywood MT as the 4th of 5 children to her parents, Penny (Howard) and Aggie (Agnes Bayne) Stenehjem. She graduated from Plentywood High School. Aggie was director of nursing for the Plentywood hospital and nursing home. Peggy worked in the nursing home during part of high school and after graduating.

She met her husband during high school as a freshman and they dated several times. Later, on July 31st, 1976 they met once again and had never been apart since. They married on February 26th, 1977 and lived in Medicine Lake, MT. They moved to Williston, ND in the spring of 1978 and made their home in Williston from that time on. Putter had been married before and was raising his son, Gene, and Peggy took to motherhood and loving this infant as her own. On May 28th, 1980 she lovingly gave birth to their son, Craig.

Peggy and Putter rented three different times early on before buying a house on 8th Avenue East in 1980. In 1991, they bought a home on 4th Avenue West. They tore it down in 2011 and rebuilt a new home on the same property, moving into it on Friday the 13th of January, 2012. Peggy often would pinch herself while thinking of it, saying “I can’t believe that this is ours!”

She originally was a stay-at-home mom, but later began working. In October of 1995, she began working at Walmart. She was still working there, more than 26 years later, as she passed into heaven.

She loved life and was just an absolutely amazing person. The good Lord has quite an angel at his side, now. She touched many peoples’ lives with her laughter, love, kindness and caring. She had an uncanny way of handling the most volatile situations with this unbelievable calm and collectiveness. Many of us always think back and wished that we had said or done something different when faced with these types of times. Peggy never blinked in the moment, she just was able to do the right thing, say the right thing, and do it in the right way immediately. I can’t think of one time that she later said, “I wished I had handled that differently.” She didn’t have regrets. Her family all looked up to her because of this amazing trait and all of her other characteristics. She was undoubtedly the rock of her family and is going to be missed incredibly.

Peggy was a talented cook and baker. She used her nose to tell her when things were done. Many persons would ask for recipes from her. Some would later call her and say that everything is on the recipe, but you didn’t say how long to cook it? She would always answer, “Cook it until it is done.” She didn’t time things and, for example, could smell when cookies were done in the upstairs oven from the basement. This blessed, wonderful sense of smell was also a curse. She suffered from migraines triggered by odors for many years until her ‘change of life’, when the curse pretty much ended.

Peggy is survived by all of her siblings, Jan Schwartz, Jerry (Cindy) Stenehjem, Penny (Bill) Mangus, and Jim (Peggy) Stenehjem. Also her husband, Putter (Randy) and their sons, Gene (Tabetha) & sons Tyler and Dallas; Craig (Nikki) and son Conner and daughters Taeler & Rylee.

Peggy was preceded in death by both of her parents, Penny and Aggie Stenehjem and her parents-in-law, Ralph and Ramona Parpart.