Her stepmother, Ann Newell McKnight, was also a member of PSFS, and her stepfather, Bill Evans, was active in the Washington Science Fiction Association (WSFA).
She married fan Bob Pavlat,[3] who was nearly 20 years her senior, in 1964, and they settled into the Washington DC suburbs and had two children, Melissa (Missy) and Eric.
Starting in the 1960s she published several fanzines, including 7 issues of "etwas" from 1960 - 1963,[citation needed] Of Cabbages and Kings (and Baby Turtles) 1969–1996, Of Members and Zines (and Egoboo Polls) c 1968 +, and the fapazine Adventures on Earth, 1999–2004.
At Noreascon III in Boston in 1989, she and Fred Isaacs ran the “Second Floor Division", which included Exhibits, Registration, the Dealers’ Room, Information, Press Relations and the Newsletter.
[11] FanHistoricon wasn't a convention, it was more of a workshop to establish a structure for the new organization, which became The Society for the Preservation of the History of Science Fiction Fandom, aka the Timebinders.
As an Officer of BWAWA, she was a key factor in the formation of DC17, a bid to bring the Worldcon back to Washington DC in 2017, which was launched in October 2013.
She married her second husband John Sapienza, a long-time RPG aficionado who had contributed to TSR's Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and Chaosium's RuneQuest, in 1999.
Joe Mayhew warned people that if Baltimore won the 1998 Worldcon, all the committee members would wind up mowing Peggy Rae's lawn.
Sitting in the middle of the patch was a small toy lawnmower, to give everyone at the con the chance to mow Peggy Rae's lawn.
Chicon 7 Chair Dave McCarty announced the initial endowment of $25,000 during the Nebula Awards Weekend reception at The Palmer House Hilton in Chicago.
[19] In a tribute to her on his blog, Whatever, John Scalzi wrote: "...I considered Peggy Rae a friend, and deeply admired her competence and her cheerfulness in being so.
[20] In January 2017 Peggy Rae Sapienza was announced as the recipient of the SFWA's Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award with the following citation: "The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) is pleased to announce that Peggy Rae Sapienza has been named the recipient of the Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award to honor her activities in support of science fiction and fantasy.The Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award is given by SFWA for distinguished contributions to the science fiction and fantasy community.