Born and educated in New Britain, Peggy is the daughter of the late Eleanor (Bretschneider) and the late William Coppe.  She graduated from New Britain High School, and the Moody School of Commerce, and attended classes at Central Connecticut State University, and the Hartford Graduate Center. A long-time volunteer with the Connecticut Red Cross, the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, various nursing facilities, she has a long association with the Komen Race for the Cure, and the Girl Scouts of America. She also founded a group for Single-Again Adults to provide support to widowed or divorced individuals.  A member of First Church of Christ, Congregational, in New Britain where she served on various committees, sang in the choir, and taught Sunday school, a member of the Berlin Historical Society, and a member of V.F.W. Post #10732 Women's Auxillary, she is also very involved in the Kensington United Methodist Church, the Berlin Lions Club, and volunteers at the Visiting Nurse Association, and with the Berlin Clergy Association and Berlin Community Services.  She has worked at Central Connecticut State University since 1969, and is currently Coordinator of Veterans Affairs. .In 2002 the C. C. S. U. Veterans Appreciation Organization established the "Peggy Porter Award" to be awarded annually in her honor, and was the 2002 recipient of the Hardware City Detachment Marine Corps League, Inc.’s "Distinguished Citizen Award". Parents of four children, she and her husband, Chris, own Porter’s Funeral Home in Kensington.