Marj Peeler keeps carving out place in hearts of Putnam people

Friday, August 12, 2016
Pointing out Peeler Pottery creations and memorabilia, Marj Peeler prepares to discuss her life's work and her late husband Richard's creations at a Putnam County Museum gathering. (Banner Graphic/ERIC BERNSEE)

At 90 years old, Marj Peeler isn't often left speechless.

After all, she's alternatingly charming and filterless, brash and humble and, to hear some tell it, downright stubborn. More on the latter later.

Marj, who partnered with her late husband Richard --- who died in 1998 at age 72 -- for decades of creativity as their Reelsville area home and Peeler Pottery studio, was a loss for words prior to her recent appearance at the Putnam County Museum.

Before she spoke to some 60 visitors to the museum, Peeler was surprised by the reappearance of the Richard Peeler piece "Moses," carved from black walnut wood way back in 1950.

Appraiser Brenda Coleson, working for a Carmel estate sale, was interested in what Marj might add to her knowledge of the striking wood carving that's about two feet tall, 30-35 pounds and carries a well-worn, 66-year-old $400 price tag.

"I don't think we ever got $400 for it," Marj reasoned, shaking her head.

The 1950 carving "Moses," done by Richard Peeler. (Banner Graphic/ERIC BERNSEE)

"Richard carved it, so I'm glad you brought it," she told Coleson, "It probably wasn't commissioned. He probably just did it. We lived out in the country, so he pretty much just carved anything lying around."

Titled "Moses," the carving appears to be Peeler's impression of the biblical Moses, Marj and Coleson agreed.

"I know he carved it," Marj assured. "I just don't know why he carved it."

But she did know how Richard got started carving -- Marj taught him.

High school sweethearts at Indianapolis Tech High School, they fell in love at 15, married at 21 and were separated by Richard's time in the service at the end of World War II. In the meantime, Marj was attending the University of Minnesota, where she was an art major and among other things, learned to carve.

"When he got out of the service, I taught him to carve," she related, "and he did a carving of our whole family -- his head, my head and three of our older kids' heads."

Coleson said she expected the "Moses" carving -- "a striking piece," she called it -- to fetch more than four figures at the estate sale.

But the real treasure this day was Marj Peeler, sharing her wit and stories and genuine love for her late husband and their lives together.

"We were very lucky," she said. "We did everything wrong but it worked out. We did everything the hard way.

"You could hardly find your way out there on those roads. We never expected people to come out to the pottery."

Yet come they did, perhaps not unlike the migration to that baseball diamond-in-an-Iowa-cornfield.

Visitors from some 72 different countries, she said, toured the rural Reelsville countryside to see the pottery in action, rub elbows with the Peelers, watch them feed their famed jumping goldfish and generally experience their rare brand of humanity and humility.

The 1950 carving "Moses," done by Richard Peeler (note the $400 original price tag on the bottom of the base), made a surprise visit to the event. (Banner Graphic/ERIC BERNSEE)

"Richard would throw pots for the people and he loved to tell jokes ... oh, he told some really bad (though never off-color) jokes," Marj recalled. "I don't know how we did it. We made a living at it, I don't know how.

"Seventy-two countries," she re-emphasized. "I didn't know we had 72 countries. Some of them must have been islands. They were all very, very nice people who came."

Several times during her presentation Marj pined for her Richard, saying he "didn't need to die," having everything going for him and being strong as an ox.

His certainly expertise wasn't lost on his DePauw University students and colleagues. And one of his students put up the funding to bestow Richard's name on the Richard Peeler Art Center at Hanna and Jackson streets in Greencastle.

"But darn it," Marj sighed, "Richard died before it was built, so he never knew he had a building named after him."

So where's that "stubborn" portion of our story?

It was museum President Warren Macy who called Marj stubborn as he related a story of the Peelers' original kiln and how they bought it with some of their wedding money.

Macy decided the original Peeler kiln would be a perfect display piece for the museum which already has a case with Peeler pottery and carvings and more.

But on a trip back to her home to visit Marj, Macy was shocked to find the kiln was gone.

"I asked, 'Marj, where's our kiln?,'" he recalled, and she said so matter of factly, '"Oh, I had my son take it to the dump.'"

The Peelers had used it for 28 years, firing the kiln about 1,000 times at a rousing 2,380 degrees.

But it was ugly, she insisted, and "the cause of its demise was 'job burnout.'"

Ninety-year-old Marj smiled, proud of her wordplay. The audience laughed. And even Macy had to grin.

Nonetheless, Macy was disappointed for the museum's sake.

"That was a museum piece," he assured, detailing how he could envision it fitting into the corner with pottery positioned upon it.

"But Marj decided we weren't going to get that kiln," he said, "so we weren't going to get the kiln."

Putnam County Museum President Warren Macy shares a few details about guest speaker Marj Peeler of Peeler Pottery and her creative career during her recent presentation at the museum. (Banner Graphic/ERIC BERNSEE)

End of story.

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  • A few details were off, such as my father served at the end of World War II not Korea, but it was an entertaining and nicely done article.

    Ralph Peeler

    -- Posted by Ralph Peeler on Sun, Aug 14, 2016, at 1:42 PM
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