Saratoga icon Betty Peck dies at age 100

Longtime Saratogan and local icon Betty Peck died Saturday, June 18, at age 100.

The former kindergarten teacher was known for her distinct teaching style that emphasized the importance of nature and play in school, and she formed lasting relationships with her students, even officiating at some of their weddings.

She and her late husband Willys Peck, local historian and former Mercury News copy editor, lived in the community for decades.

“She had a definite impact; kids would come back and remember her,” their son Bill Peck said. “The experience of being in her kindergarten was memorable. She touched many lives over the years.”

A bronze sculpture of the couple sitting on a bench was dedicated in 2017 in Blaney Plaza. The Pecks had a daily ritual of counting their blessings while sitting on a bench that faced the Saratoga Creek outside their home, which inspired the sculpture, titled “Willys and Betty Peck’s Blessing Bench.”

The Saratoga Historical Foundation received more than $70,000 in donations to fund the sculpture project.

Betty Peck worked at both the former Saratoga School on Oak Street, now called Saratoga Elementary School, and the nature-centered preschool she founded called the Los Gatos-Saratoga Observation Nursery School.

“Betty had a wonderful sense of joy for the world around her and the children who entered her world as a teacher in our local schools,” said Jill Hunter of the Saratoga Village Development Council. “They used to say that you could tell a Betty Peck student because when they came home from college, they immediately went into the garden to smell the roses.”

Peck also founded the Saratoga Community Garden in 1973. She had a voracious appetite for knowledge and only read nonfiction books. She would underline passages and write in the margins, and buy extra copies for her friends the she thought might enjoy it, daughter Anna Rainville said.

“She was so vibrantly curious and just in awe of new ideas,” Rainville said.

She had a way of creating community and a sense of belonging, whether it was in her classroom, hosting salons after she retired or bringing family friends together to go Christmas caroling.

After retiring, Betty got her doctorate degree in education from Nova Southeastern University in Florida when she was 80, and wrote many books. Her concentration was in beauty, Rainville said, and she would arrive to her class a few minutes early with branches and flowers, vases, tablecloths and fruits to decorate the space,