Peggy Jenkins Harrison; Foster Mother to 80

Saddened by reading stories in the newspaper of abused or disabled children, Peggy Jenkins Harrison decided when she was a teen-ager to devote her life to raising foster children.

At the time of her death from cancer on Saturday, the 62-year-old Simi Valley resident had fulfilled her mission, caring for 80 children over the course of 25 years, as well as raising three of her own children and adopting two more.

“She loved everybody,” said Bruce Harrison, her husband of 40 years.

Born in the coal-mining town of Morhland, Utah, Harrison attended high school in Price, Utah. She came to California as a young woman, working as a mechanic refurbishing planes for the Korean War.

Harrison met her husband “drag-racing down the (Ventura Freeway) near Camp Pendleton,” he said.

“We got to talking, yelling back and forth, then made a date,” he said. “I was supposed to go with her girlfriend, but then we met for the date and the girlfriend hopped in with my buddy instead.”

The couple married two years later after Bruce, a U.S. Marine, returned from the Korean War.

As soon as they were married, Peggy told her new husband that she wanted to provide homes for needy children.

“I said, ‘I don’t see a problem with that,’ ” her husband said.

Over the years, 80 children from all over Southern California took up temporary residence in the couple’s Simi Valley home.

Harrison is survived by her husband, Bruce; four daughters, Kathy Berry of Palmdale, Tammy Harrison of Santa Clarita, Cheryl Harrison of Vancouver, Wash., and Robin Harrison of Simi Valley; one son, Thomas Harrison of Simi Valley; one grandson, Stephen Berry of North Carolina; granddaughter Jonel Berry of Palmdale; and great-grandson, Damen Berry of Palmdale.

The family asks that donations be made in Harrison’s name to the American Cancer Society.

A viewing is scheduled Tuesday 2 to 9 p.m. at Reardon Simi Valley Mortuary. Funeral services will be at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Simi Valley, Wednesday at 3 p.m.