Carmen (Reina) Peck

Carmen M. Peck, 95, of Bellevue, Iowa, passed away Tuesday evening, January 6, 2015 at Mill Valley Care Center in Bellevue. Funeral Services will be held at 3:00pm Saturday, January 10 at First Presbyterian Church in Bellevue. Friends may call one hour prior to the service on Saturday also at the Church. Carmen was born on May 15, 1919 in Fusagasuga, Colombia, South America to Esteban and Waldina (Garcia) Reina. She came in the mid-1940s to Iowa State University (Ames) as a foreign exchange student sponsored by the Presbyterian Church USA. She then returned to Colombia and taught in mission schools. She later married William Kraemer, an Ames graduate, and moved to Iowa. They divorced in 1959. In 1965, Carmen married Spencer Peck, a University of Iowa law graduate who worked in insurance. They lived in Lansing, Iowa until moving to Dubuque and then to Bellevue in the late 1960s. A life-long learner and teacher, Carmen returned to college for graduate degrees in Spanish and library science. She taught home economics in Solon, Iowa, and Spanish at East Lyden High School (Illinois) and Lansing-New Albin (Iowa). She and Spencer studied library science, became school librarians and moved to Dubuque, where she was a librarian for Dubuque Community Schools. After the couple moved to Bellevue, she taught Spanish at Clinton Community (CCC) College where she also organized and took students on college-sponsored Spanish Club summer van trip to Mexico. She retired from CCC in the late 1970s. Carmen was an active adventurer all her life. She played golf, ping-pong and pool for many years, visited Colombia and traveled with Spencer throughout the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. A devoted and playful grandmother, she treated her grandkids to picnics, fishing trips, golf outings, library visits and everyday adventures. She and Spencer enjoyed sports. They attended football, girls and boys basketball, Cubs baseball, Hawkeye, Big 10 and high school games and playoffs. Regulars at Bellevue Comets games, they were Grand Marshalls for the Comet homecoming parade in around 2000. In declining health, she lived nearly four years at Mill Valley Care Center before her death. The family feels special appreciation for Mill Valley caregivers for their loving care, and to volunteer Sandra Hayward and Joy Marchiando of Mill Valley who organized a popular Spanish club at Mill Valley that Carmen participated in for some time. Those left to honor Carmen's memory include her husband of 49 years, Spencer Peck, of Bellevue; daughter, Carmen Clark, of Madison, Wisconsin; four grandchildren, Robin Clark-Bennett, Brian Clark, Suzanne Clark and Ross Clark; two great grandchildren, Joseph and Maya Bennett; an ex son-in-law, Bruce Clark; and many nieces and nephews both in the United States and South America. She was preceded in death by her parents and seven siblings.