Margaret Ann "Peg" Boivin

Margaret Ann “Peg” Boivin (nee Provo), 95, passed away on September 28, 2026 surrounded by her loving family in her Homewood home of almost 70 years. A member of the Homewood Hall of Fame, she leaves behind a legacy of love to her family and service to her community, especially for those less fortunate.

Peg was born June 22nd, 1931, in Chicago, the daughter of Charles Provo, Sr., and Margaret Ewing Provo. At a young age, she and her brother, the late Charles Provo, were placed in the Woodstock Children’s Home, where she helped lovingly guide and mentor her younger brother through a difficult time for both. They also spent parts of their youth in the Beverly, Roseland and Pullman neighborhoods of Chicago, but the young siblings’ Woodstock experience was the beginning of Peg’s selfless service to others.

Peg graduated from Fenger High School and then attended Beverly Business College. On July 21st, 1951, she married Edward George Boivin in Harvey, IL. As Ed served in the National Guard and their family grew, the couple lived in Harvey, Gary, Pullman, and finally Homewood, where they bought their only home on Sacramento Avenue in 1957 and raised six children.

While her children attended St. Joseph’s Catholic School, Peg served in various volunteer roles at the school. Many of her children’s classmates remember her most vividly as the mom who brought the hot dog cart around to the classrooms over the years, but she also served as a teen leader for a decade and as a Scout leader.

In addition to the role many mothers filled in that era, Peg became more attuned to changes in American society. This was especially true when it came to women’s rights, as Peg became a vocal advocate for the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. And yes, Peggy died damn mad that the ERA still has not been ratified.

As her daughter-in-law Janet told her in her last days, “You had six children and could have remained what we call today ‘a trad wife,’ but you knew there was more to do in life. You were a feminist before women started burning their bras. You are my hero.”

A respected parliamentarian, notary public and election judge (for more than 50 years!), Peg served as the President and Vice President of the Homewood-Flossmoor Area League of Women’s Voters. In 2020, she was recognized in the Illinois League’s 100th Anniversary Book for her 50 years of service to the LWV.

In 1995, Peg was named the Homewood Chamber of Commerce’s Citizen of the Year. In 2008, she was inducted into the Homewood Hall of Fame with her late husband Ed for their decades of service in the greater Chicago Southland community.

Peg served for 26 years as a legislative aide to Illinois State senators William Mahar Sr. and William Mahar Jr. She was also a network coordinator for Illinois’ 3rd Congressional District.

Judge John Doody, Jr., the former President of the Homewood Village Board, wrote in his nomination to the village’s Hall of Fame committee that:

“Peggy’s assistance to thousands of constituents in the areas of social security, veterans’ benefits, unemployment benefits, public aid, scholarships, state tax problems and many other problems critically helped residents in need.”

Peg was a Paul Harris Fellow in the Orland Park Rotary, and her family hosted international exchange students from Brazil and Japan, involving them in the community work at the heart of their purpose in life. She was also Vice President and Secretary of the Homewood Junior Women’s Club,

Peg served alongside Ed when they committed their lives together in 1984 to the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Permanent Diaconate. They served the parishes of St. Joseph in Homewood, and St. Gerard Majella and St. Anne in Markham. Peg and Ed also provided guidance to disadvantaged youths at the St. Joseph Carondolet Child Center on the South Side of Chicago in the 1990s.

Peg, who while completing the Lay Ministry Training Program created an adult religious education program for the South Suburban Parish Cluster, was a Lector and Eucharistic Minister. She was also a founding member of the Homewood Eucharistic League and the Archdiocesan Marriage Tribunal, and served on the Executive Vicariate Board of the National Council of Catholic Women.

She was also a member of the Association of Catholic Priests & Deacons, which in 2015 awarded her its Coordinating Board Award for her decades of work with the Adult Enrichment Program, the Lay Ministry Program, and as a Lector and Eucharistic Minister. A Homewood-Flossmoor Star story called her “a dedicated feminist, not afraid to voice her discontent with women’s roles in the church, but speaks of a ‘sense of belonging’ that spurs her work there.”

Peg served on the Homewood Community Relations Commission, 1968 Diamond Jubilee Committee, and 1976 Bicentennial Committee. In the 1970s, she and Ed were co-founders of the Westside Home Owners Association (WHOA). She served as a Homewood Village Trustee from 1992 to1997, and the lifelong voracious reader was President of the Friends of the Homewood Library into her 90s.

Diagnosed with breast cancer in her 80s, Peg volunteered at the Cancer Support Center and its Village Door Consignment Shop in Homewood into her 90s. She was a founding

member of the South Suburban Housing Center, served on the Foster Grandparent Advisory Council, and was a Community Research Advisor at the DePaul School of New Learning as well.

Peg also volunteered at Deborah’s Place, a shelter for battered and homeless women; the Crisis Center for South Suburbia; and with the South Suburban Public Action to Deliver Shelter (PADS). She was a member of the Abby Foundation for more than 25 years.

A lifelong learner and voracious reader, in her “retirement” Peg earned two adult certificates from the University of Chicago’s Graham School, one for studying James Joyce and the other for studying the Far Eastern Classics.

Peg is survived by her six children: Shelly (William) McAndrews, Mary (Rodger) McCullough, Heather (Chris) Kurtz, Tim (Janet) Boivin, Dawn Boivin, and Patrick (Linda) Boivin. She was preceded in death by her husband Edward, her brother Charles Provo, her granddaughter Julie Marie Boivin, and her sons-in-law, Rodger McCullough and Chris Kurtz.

Peg’s legacy of selfless service to the less fortunate is guaranteed to continue for generations to come through her 21 grandchildren, 21 great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild. In lieu of flowers, the family is encouraging donations to South Suburban PADS or Friends of the Homewood Public Library.

Finally, in Peg’s memory, the family encourages everyone to serve those less fortunate, support your local library, VOTE, and continue to demand equal rights for women. Or else she will come back to haunt you.

A visitation will be held on Friday, October 2 from 3:00-7:00pm at Tews-Ryan Funeral Home.

Chapel prayers will be held on Saturday, October 3 at 10:45am at Tews-Ryan Funeral Home.

The funeral Mass will be held on Saturday, October 3 at 11:30am at St. John Neumann Catholic Church.