We are saddened to report that Lady Catherine Peacock of the Barony of Stonemarche passed on June 29, AS LIII.

Lady Catherine was a long time citizen of the Barony of Stonemarche, joining in the mid 1990’s.  She received her Award of Arms from Lucan III and Elspeth at Market Day at  Birka in AS XXXI and her order of the Millstone in AS XXXIV.  She also received three Burdened Tygers  – from Lucan V and Marieke II (A.S. XXXIV) , from Lucan VI and Yana III (A.S. XXXVI), and from Andreas II and Isabella II (A.S. XXXVII). She became a companion of the Order of the Silver Crescent in A.S. XXXVI.

Arms of Lady Catherine Peacock

In the society she bore the arms Azure, a peacock in its pride within a bordure invected Or. (Image courtesy of The Memorial Shield Project.)

The list of awards only hints at the life of Lady Catherine.  One can guess that she performed a lot of service, but that tells us no details of how that service was delivered, or even what it might have been.  Those details are what makes someone beloved and missed.

Lady Catherine did nothing in life by half measures.  She put her heart and soul into every activity she touched. She ran events. She cooked feasts.  She helped when other people ran things.  She loved the arts, and Byzantine garb with as many pearls and gems as it would support.  To every one of those activities she brought boundless, infectious joy, and enthusiasm that caught up others and swept them along to help her.

She is remembered too for her fierce dedication to justice, and to protecting those who needed an advocate. When there was a problem too big for the Barony to sort out, she didn’t hesitate.  She picked up the phone and called the King to explain the group’s concerns.  It didn’t matter to her that she wasn’t an officer, or in charge of anything – she saw a problem, knew who could help with it, and got the job done.   That, too, was very typical of her.

She is survived by her husband, Lord Randall Brock, and two daughters who are not currently active in the Society.

Lord Argus Erikson, aka Argus of the Seven Hills, passed on unexpectedly on February 1, 2017. His passing leaves a hole in the fabric of the Barony of Stonemarche.  Usually one starts this sort of article with a summary of the person’s awards and offices. Doing that doesn’t do Argus justice.

He received his Award of Arms from Balfar and Luna in 2000. He served Stonemarche as Chatelaine for several years.

Eventually he handed off the formal office, and writing the reports to someone else, but he never really stopped being a Chatelaine. As I scanned the social media in the first day or two after we heard the news, the one thing I saw repeated over and over was the sentiment that he’d been one of the first people the writer met when they came to an event in Stonemarche as a nervous newcomer, and he welcomed them. He made them feel like they belonged there, and were genuinely wanted. Continue reading →