Dr. Martha H. "Terry" Peck, O.D., 97 years, of Fort Madison, Iowa, passed away at 4:10 am Friday, August 31, 2012 at Sunnybrook Assisted Living. Born Martha Harriet Sullivan in Hamburg, Iowa, she was the only daughter of Dr. Terry D. and Trecie (Barger) Sullivan, of Shenandoah, Iowa. She graduated from Shenandoah High School in 1933.

Dr. Peck was an accomplished marimba soloist. She was the student and protégé of the famous Lionel Hampton and through his encouragement became National Champion on the Marimba in the 1933 Chicago Competition, after which she made many solo appearances.

She attended the Pennsylvania State College of Optometry transferring to Northern Illinois College of Optometry and graduated with a Doctor of Optometry Degree in June of 1936. At the beginning of her college career, Martha's father signed her enrollment papers and the registrar's office mistakenly put Martha's name in as Terry, her father's, and the nickname has followed her ever since. After graduation, she practiced optometry with her father in Shenandoah, Iowa, until her marriage to Dr. Glenn M. Peck on June 6, 1937. She moved to Fort Madison where her husband had established an optometric practice.

The two Drs. Peck were parents of a daughter, Terry Jo Gile (husband Jack) a Medical Technologist and laboratory safety consultant in North Fort Myers, FL and a son, Dr. Larry Don Peck (wife Kristine) an Optometrist in Fort Madison and Keokuk, Iowa.

In 1947 Terry opened her own optometric practice in Mount Pleasant, Iowa where she practiced for three years. She sold the practice to Dr. Max Deal. In 1960 she returned to college for classes in contact lens fitting and joined her husband's practice as the first contact lens specialist in SE Iowa. In 1973 she was listed in the 8th edition of Who's Who of American Women for her accomplishments in the field of optometry including the Iowa Society for the Prevention of Blindness, the National Eye Research Foundation and the Academy of Corrective Optometry. She was appointed by Governor Robert Ray to a six year term of the Board of Optometry Examiners in Des Moines in 1975. She retired from the practice of optometry in 1981.

Terry and Glenn both obtained their private pilots' licenses and enjoyed flying. Terry had to work extra hard on her flying to overcome a childhood disability of deafness in one ear. Her favorite part of flying was when she would put the plane into a spin. Terry and Glenn were also avid ballroom dancers. They took lessons from the Arthur Murray Dance Studio in Burlington and enjoyed swing, samba and rumba dances. They also enjoyed traveling the world would seek out a charm representative of the country they were visiting to place on the wall map of their office.

Terry was a former member of the Diamond Chapter of Eastern Star, Daughters of the Nile, Davenport Iowa, past president of the Potowonok Circle of Kings Daughters, past president of Chapter AM of T. T. T. transferring to Chapter CA in 2001. She was a past officer of Chapter KV, P.E.O., past president of Jean Espy Chapter DAR and past Board Member of the Fort Madison Country Club. She was a Campfire Girls leader, a licensed pilot and was an avid golfer. She was an active member of the First United Methodist Church for many years.

She was preceded in death by her parents and her husband of 65 years. She is survived by her two children, three grandsons (Todd Gile Sr., of St. Peter's Missouri; Ryan Gile of Las Vegas Nevada; and Jason Peck of Cedar Rapids, Iowa) one granddaughter (Grace Peck of Fort Madison) and one great grandson, (Todd Gile, Jr. of Kansas City, Missouri).

Family will greet friends from 10:00 - 11:00 am Tuesday, September 4, 2012 at the Barr Memorial Chapel, Fort Madison, Iowa. A funeral service will be held at 11:00 am Tuesday, September 4, 2012 at the funeral home, with Reverend Mark Binder, officiating. Burial will be at the Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery, Fort Madison. In lieu of flowers, a memorial has been established in Memory of Dr. Peck at the Fort Madison United Methodist Church. Contributions may be made at the Barr Memorial Chapel.