Margaret “Miss Peg” Edith Salmon Riopel
Obituary Notice
Margaret “Miss Peg” Edith Salmon Riopel
November 16, 1941- February 20, 2012
Resident of Palo Alto and Sunnyvale
Peg Riopel passed away at age 70 peacefully after a long and courageous 15 year battle with Ovarian Cancer. She is survived by her daughter Carrie Mousseau, MD (Charles), son John-David, her “best medicine” granddaughter Genevieve, and sister Barbara (Ronald) Robinson and estranged sister Julie; preceded in death by her parents Julia Ann Tocash, William Arthur Salmon.
Peg was born in Salem OR. She and her sisters grew up around the country following her father’s career. Their parents died early when they were teens in New Orleans. They then were cared for by neighbors Phyllis and Robert Likens. She attended high school at McDonogh High in New Orleans Louisiana, Neshaminy High in Langhorne Pennsylvania, and graduated from Upland High School in Upland California in 1959. She earned her Bachelors of Arts in General Elementary with a minor in Child Development and her General Teaching Credential from San Jose State in 1964. She received her Learning Handicapped Specialist Credential from UC Santa Cruz in 1982.
She became a Master Slingerland Teacher in 1984. She worked for several years at Charles Armstrong School in Ladera, CA teaching students with severe dyslexia and training teachers in the Slingerland Method. Later she taught special needs children with severe emotional needs in Santa Clara Unified School District at Pomeroy then Briarwood School for 15 years. In 1998-99 she received the district’s highest honor of Special Educator of the Year for her “exceptional ability to relate to and teach children who had experienced considerable hardship and trauma. Her calm insightful approach achieved a remarkable rate and degree of progress. For the students she turned their regard to learning from contempt, rancor and shame to a place of achievement, security, caring and kindness.” She retired in 2005.
Peg loved soccer. She started playing at the age of 37 and retired at age 67. She helped create the Silicon Valley Women’s Soccer League with FIFA affiliation so her team San Andreas Fault could participate in the National Championship Women’s Over 30’s Cup, their best showing taking 3ed place in 1982. They were the first US team ever to score against the Taiwan National Team and to keep the score under double digits in 1981 (1-9). They toured Germany, a highlight playing after a Bayern Munich Bundesliga match. She also helped start the Peninsula Coed Soccer League (later the Silicon Valley Coed League) and the Palo Alto Coed Soccer League. She captained and managed several teams in her tenure and helped create travel teams, most notably the Over 50’s series of: Hawks, Mo Hawks, and Kitty Hawks, and soccer tournaments including the Lynn Barber Cup. In 1999 she received a proclamation from the City of Palo Alto “expressing appreciation for her work and dedication towards the Women’s World Cup”. She played in Canada and Mexico and several states and earned medals in Senior Olympic Soccer events (2 Gold, 6 Silver and 6 Bronze). At the time of her death she was an active board member of the Bay Area Women’s Soccer League and manager of SA Fault II and Rhythm & Blues coed teams.
Miss Peg will be remembered as extremely positive and outgoing, always welcoming new players and friends into the fold with a kind word and smile. An adopted soccer mom, school mom, and sister to so many. She helped inspire and ignite passion in most everyone she met. Her kindness and spirit will live on in the many hearts she touched. We love you Mom and miss you. See you on the pitch!
Obituary Notice
Margaret “Miss Peg” Edith Salmon Riopel
November 16, 1941- February 20, 2012
Resident of Palo Alto and Sunnyvale
Peg Riopel passed away at age 70 peacefully after a long and courageous 15 year battle with Ovarian Cancer. She is survived by her daughter Carrie Mousseau, MD (Charles), son John-David, her “best medicine” granddaughter Genevieve, and sister Barbara (Ronald) Robinson and estranged sister Julie; preceded in death by her parents Julia Ann Tocash, William Arthur Salmon.
Peg was born in Salem OR. She and her sisters grew up around the country following her father’s career. Their parents died early when they were teens in New Orleans. They then were cared for by neighbors Phyllis and Robert Likens. She attended high school at McDonogh High in New Orleans Louisiana, Neshaminy High in Langhorne Pennsylvania, and graduated from Upland High School in Upland California in 1959. She earned her Bachelors of Arts in General Elementary with a minor in Child Development and her General Teaching Credential from San Jose State in 1964. She received her Learning Handicapped Specialist Credential from UC Santa Cruz in 1982.
She became a Master Slingerland Teacher in 1984. She worked for several years at Charles Armstrong School in Ladera, CA teaching students with severe dyslexia and training teachers in the Slingerland Method. Later she taught special needs children with severe emotional needs in Santa Clara Unified School District at Pomeroy then Briarwood School for 15 years. In 1998-99 she received the district’s highest honor of Special Educator of the Year for her “exceptional ability to relate to and teach children who had experienced considerable hardship and trauma. Her calm insightful approach achieved a remarkable rate and degree of progress. For the students she turned their regard to learning from contempt, rancor and shame to a place of achievement, security, caring and kindness.” She retired in 2005.
Peg loved soccer. She started playing at the age of 37 and retired at age 67. She helped create the Silicon Valley Women’s Soccer League with FIFA affiliation so her team San Andreas Fault could participate in the National Championship Women’s Over 30’s Cup, their best showing taking 3ed place in 1982. They were the first US team ever to score against the Taiwan National Team and to keep the score under double digits in 1981 (1-9). They toured Germany, a highlight playing after a Bayern Munich Bundesliga match. She also helped start the Peninsula Coed Soccer League (later the Silicon Valley Coed League) and the Palo Alto Coed Soccer League. She captained and managed several teams in her tenure and helped create travel teams, most notably the Over 50’s series of: Hawks, Mo Hawks, and Kitty Hawks, and soccer tournaments including the Lynn Barber Cup. In 1999 she received a proclamation from the City of Palo Alto “expressing appreciation for her work and dedication towards the Women’s World Cup”. She played in Canada and Mexico and several states and earned medals in Senior Olympic Soccer events (2 Gold, 6 Silver and 6 Bronze). At the time of her death she was an active board member of the Bay Area Women’s Soccer League and manager of SA Fault II and Rhythm & Blues coed teams.
Miss Peg will be remembered as extremely positive and outgoing, always welcoming new players and friends into the fold with a kind word and smile. An adopted soccer mom, school mom, and sister to so many. She helped inspire and ignite passion in most everyone she met. Her kindness and spirit will live on in the many hearts she touched. We love you Mom and miss you. See you on the pitch!
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