It is amazing how she could pack so much in a day because her "To Do" list was always long. Before she retired for the night she would first evaluate her day, and then map out, and as well as leave clear instructions on what had to be achieved the following day.

Her presence inculcated planning and orderliness. This much Peggy taught me. I saw her order the affairs of the extended family to give her dear husband, Joe, that essential space and peace of mind to attend to the affairs of state.

She singularly held the extended family together by her attention to detail and leaving no stone unturned. She regularly saw to it that rites and offertory were performed, the sick and bereaved visited, dues and tithes paid on time. She was alert to rising disputes and dowsed the flames.

She was the fire-fighter who got the job done drawing no attention to herself. She allowed others, be they queens or princesses, to take the credit, being always careful not to step on toes and even if she did she was the mother hen that never hurt her brood.

Precious Mansa

Peggy was a mother, a tender-loving mother! I remember once at their residence at Mbrom, Kumasi, she came out of her office to me as I sat at her dining table completing a log on a previous day's field trip. Pointing upstairs she asked me to run up and check on Abena.

Abena loved to lie in the bathtub full of water singing, reading and getting lost in her own world. But she could fall asleep induced by the relaxing pool of water in a typical hot afternoon. Peggy's instincts were right. There was her precious Mansa and last child slumbering with her note pad on the floor.

(Abena came up with incisive poems with such imaginative ease.) But Abena was in no danger of drowning as she managed to anchor her head and torso in such a position to prevent an accidental slip. I disturbed her forty winks, saw to it that she would get out of the bath and rushed down to her dear mother to assure her that all was well with precocious Abena.

This is mother Peggy who, although, at that moment was in deep audience with some important visitors, had the presence of mind to also pay attention to Abena some distance away. Peggy was all responsible, was always ticking and like a clock was alive to her responsibilities.

Archiving and documentation

Peggy made the archiving and documentation of the metaphors of the Akan history, value systems and world-outlook her abiding responsibility. She sought to bring to the fore the pristine Akan way of life in order to restore self-pride particularly in the younger Here is Peggy again and at her insightful best.

The head of the Asantehene's dirge ensemble had come to Peggy one morning to complain about a grandson who refused to apply himself diligently to learning the hymns and chants associated with his grandfather's office.

The grandfather getting on in age was afraid that he could die taking with him all the accumulated knowledge of his call and service to the king. The grandson was Peggy's driver. Peggy later sat this recalcitrant young man down and began asking him if he understood why she took him on as her driver in the first place.

She took him on precisely so he could go with her on her research trips for him to value what he has been born into. She then sent him on to me and I spent the next three days endearing him to believe in the historic task he was being prepared for by his grandfather.

A VW Beetle around Asante

Sometimes in her VW beetle, Peggy crisscrossed the Asante region triple checking on information on abramo? (goldweights), adinkra symbols, and proverbs and establishing their accurate meanings and interpretations with chiefs, priests, elders and other informed people.

I accompanied her and oftentimes she would send me ahead to prepare the ground. We visited shrines, traditional doctors and herbalists to have an appreciation of their practices and to cross check the essence of those abramo?, adinkra symbols and proverbs characterising the Akan spirituality, faith and cosmology.

Blessed with prescient mind she discerned the hermeneutics of the graphic symbols etched on stool regalia and other paraphernalia of state. Peggy was rigorous in her applied research methods and she enquired with such depth of understanding and appreciation of the culture she was encountering.

She made those she interviewed feel valued and respected. She left them always glowing in pride that theirs is something of value and it is a rich cultural heritage they should forever cherish and preserve.

Court protocol and diplomacy

Through Peggy, I learnt the art and practice of court protocol and diplomacy. She prepared me before we visited with our chiefs and went to shrines of our spiritual leaders. I also picked up a lot on statecraft and governance in our outings. I was taught how to speak and hold oneself in the presence of our traditional rulers.

The intimacy between Peggy and I grew stronger when in 1973 I was appointed Ashanti regional organising secretary of the National Association of Writers. Peggy and A.D. Appea of Ashanti Pioneer fame were the chair and vice-chair respectively. We were charged by the Minister of Education to organise district and local structures within eighteen months.

However, within six months, the Ashanti region structures were in place and fully inaugurated. Such selfless dedication to a national task! Peggy would not wait or depend on Accra for resources as she expressed that, "… the directives are clear; we can wait twelve months for Accra or beat the rest of the country to it and point the way."

And yes, we did, as we plotted our way, laid out plans and executed the plans in such organizational orderliness that astounded headquarters. Peggy provided the inspiration and the resources that enabled my feet to trudge the district capitals and to ground with local officials of state, elders and aspiring writers. Branches sprung up where seeds were sown and, where appropriate, Peggy and A.D. Appea would be there to induct the officers.

It was my field experience with Peggy that prepared me for this organisational task. I slogged familiar grounds of established networks woven together like a spider's web, the intricacy of it only known to the initiate. A day with Peggy was worth its wealth in nuggets of wisdom.

The usual tea and biscuits

I last saw Peggy in London, about seven years ago, when she served me the usual tea and biscuits. She wanted to know one thing: that, whether I threw an egg at Joe in Washington D.C. as it had been rumoured over the years.

I replied "No!" but affirmed that I was a leading member of those fine patriots in the US who organised the campaigns against Acheampong's Union Government. And that, what I did effectively was to use the very same radio and television stations that interviewed granduncle Joe to counter whatever he said.

We made granduncle Joe's propaganda visit a huge PR disaster for Acheampong's military government. I then emphasised that granduncle Joe was followed by Sam Boateng and he also failed miserably and in his mission to bribe some members of our campaigning team.

Peggy was all ears to my account of events and the reason why we opposed military rule in whatever guise because a leopard could not change its spots. Peggy responded to me by sharing with me, for the first time, exploits of her father and his work which transformed the British economy after the Second World War.

She also recounted their beginnings, she and granduncle Joe. She then paused, touched my shoulder and remarked that I was of the same spiritual totem with granduncle Joe which was the leopard.

Granduncle Joe

Peggy went on to reveal that when Joe arrived on his mission at the Washington, D.C. airport, the first person he asked of from the embassy staff was me. At that given moment a scene replayed in my mind's eye as I saw myself approaching the Osu Castle and then turning to the left to one of the guest houses.

I knocked and Peggy opened the door and beckoned me to come in. "He's been waiting for you," she intoned as I was slightly late. She then led me to granduncle Joe and left us to ourselves. Granduncle Joe filled me with words of wisdom and pieces of advice as later that day I was to travel, for the first time, out of the country and to Washington, D.C. to study.

That was August 1975. The training that Peggy gave me stood me in good stead while in the US where I walked the land as a proud African. In lecture tours of libraries and museums, I shared with audiences the intricate methods used by the Akans to record their history, value systems and faith in the metaphoric forms of the abramo? and adinkra. Such is Peggy's enduring legacy to Akans, Ghana and Africa.

Hers were acts of revelation! By deciphering, revealing and articulating the Akan historical experience and affirming its validity and vitality in the modern context, Peggy helped Akans to reinterpret themselves and by this love their own memories.

Peggy Appiah never dies. Peggy is now part of the pantheon of glorious ancestors that one can call on through prayers and libation. Peggy never dies!