Friends and colleagues:

It is with the deepest personal regret that I pass on the following
bad news:

At about 11:30 p.m. Friday night, March 21, Kathi McAinsh, of our Ottawa
Archaeology and Marine Heritage office, and Peggi Armstrong, of the
Canadian Museum of Civilization, were returning to Ottawa from a visit
with a friend.  The weather was apparently very bad and they were involved
in a head-on collision on an icy road near Aylmer, Quebec.  They were
taken to hospital where Peggi was pronounced dead about an hour later.
She was 39.

Kathi was seriously injured but is currently in stable condition in
intensive care at the Centre Hospitalier Regionale de l'Outouais in Hull
(please forgive me if my spelling is wrong). The hospital is not yet
allowing Kathi any direct calls but they expect her to be moved out
of ICU soon and she may be transferred to a hospital in Ottawa either
today or tomorrow.

Kathi is the able and affable administrator who has kept our Eastern
Region Archaeology and Provincial Marine Heritage office and programmes
operating smoothly since 1979.  On top of her regular duties, she has
often acted as the on-the-spot liaison to the Ottawa Chapter of the
Ontario Archaeological Society for many years, organizing volunteer
activities, managing field equipment, and orchestrating their popular (and
essential) 'lab nights', and so on.  She has also been very active in many
other capacities with the Ottawa Chapter for many years and is currently
working with Helen Armstrong (Peggi's mother) on developing an Ontario
Marine Archaeology Edu-Kit for use in the public schools.

I am sure that everyone will join me in extending to Kathi our sincerest
best wishes for a full and speedy recovery.

As many of you know, after several years working with the Canadian
International Development Agency, Peggi had recently been appointed Head
of Design at the Canadian Museum of Civilization. She was very active in
the Ottawa Chapter of the Ontario Archaeological Society and was a highly
valued volunteer on innumerable excavations across the province and
elsewhere, in which capacity she appeared on TV Ontario's "Archaeology
From the Ground Up" series several years ago. Most recently her volunteer
efforts were primarily dedicated to the OAS 'Archaeology Day' programmes
at Charleston Lake and Bonnechere Provincial Parks.  Her enthusiastic
participation in the co-operative public history and archaeology programme
at Basin Depot, in Algonquin Park, over the last two years has been a high
point of the project.

I am sure that everyone who knew Peggi will join me in extending heartfelt
condolences and sympathy to her mother, Helen (former president of the
Ottawa Chapter of the OAS), her father, Graham (affectionately known to
all as 'Doc'), her brother and sister, Tim and Judy, and the rest of her
family relatives. She will be very greatly missed by all who knew her.

Peggi (Patricia Margaret) is currently resting at the Hulse, Playfair, &
McGarry Funeral Home, 315 McLeod Street in Ottawa (613-233-1143).
Visitation is today from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m., and tomorrow from 12 noon
to 1:30 p.m.  Funeral services will be held tomorrow, Tuesday, March 25,
at 3 p.m., at St. James Anglican Church in Carp.  Peggi's family has made
no suggestions regarding donations, etc., but those who knew her will
remember that Peggi always loved flowers.


Chris J.-Andersen ([log in to unmask])