Frank Pegg has been a lay Eucharistic minister for 50 years at St. John's Episcopal Church in Lodi. (Brian Feulner/News-Sentinel)

Frank Pegg enjoys 50 years at St. John's

Frank Pegg has a sharp memory.

He moved to Lodi from England on July 5, 1957. He remembers that it was a Friday. Two days later, he attended his first service at St. John's Episcopal Church, and the following Wednesday, he became a meat cutter for $70 a week for George Aberle, owner of George's Quality Meats.

Pegg is 85, and he has spent the past 50 years as a lay Eucharist minister at St. John's. He lays out the altar for the priest each week, reads lessons for the week, serves on committees to select a new priest and sells niches at the church for cremations.

And he still fly fishes in the mountains, gambles at Lake Tahoe and cooks dinner every other night.

Pegg, who still has a British accent, moved to Lodi because he became disenchanted with conditions in England. One was the defeat of the prime minister at the time, and he was also upset over conditions at labor unions there.

As a member of the Church of England, Pegg joined its American counterpart, the Episcopal church, when he and his wife, Joyce, moved to Lodi.

A year after Pegg's arrival in Lodi, Father John Raymond asked him to become a lay reader.

But what really surprised Pegg was when Raymond retired in the mid-1960s, and the church's senior warden asked him to be in charge until the congregation selected a new priest.

For eight months, Pegg ran St. John's, then a small church on West Locust Street. He often gave the Sunday sermon, although he wasn't allowed to write his own because he wasn't ordained. But the bishop of the San Joaquin Diocese had some printed sermons that Pegg could read to the congregation.

And on the fourth Sunday of each month, an ordained priest was called in to serve Holy Communion because Pegg wasn't allowed to do so.

During his 50 years at St. John's, Pegg also taught Sunday school and sang bass in the church choir.

Pegg said the biggest change he has encountered during his time at St. John's was the turnover of priests. St. John's has had at least eight priests during the 50-year span that Pegg has served at the church.

"You kind of have to get used to the new minister," he said.

He'll have to get used to another one, maybe next year. The church's search committee is looking for a priest to replace Father Rick Matters, who left St. John's in May 2007 for an Episcopal Church in Carmel. Father Basil Matthews has been serving as interim priest since that time.

Pegg remained in the meat-cutting business, retiring from Victor Fine Foods off Highway 99 in Acampo, in 1988.

He founded a soccer club called the Imperials in 1959. He played for five years and coached the squad as well. He also co-founded the Lodi Tennis Club and the Delta Fly Fishermen. He still writes poetry and enjoys calligraphy.

His wife of 58 years, Joyce Pegg, died in 2007. She was office manager at Lodi Truck Service. He has a son, Stephen Pegg, a daughter, Lesley Dockter, both from Lodi, and five grandchildren. His eldest grandchild, James, is serving for the U.S. Army in Iraq.

Contact reporter Ross Farrow at rossf@lodinews.com.