{"id":1313,"date":"2013-01-19T16:56:48","date_gmt":"2013-01-19T16:56:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peggylee.com\/wp\/?p=1313"},"modified":"2021-08-04T10:19:10","modified_gmt":"2021-08-04T14:19:10","slug":"lees-triumph-of-spirit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/lees-triumph-of-spirit\/","title":{"rendered":"Lee’s Triumph of Spirit"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n by Gene Plaskin<\/p>\n

“I always thought of myself as a very strange little girl,” chuckles Peggy Lee, remembering herself as Norma Deloris Egstrom, the North Dakota blond abandoned as a toddler, then abused by her wicked stepmother.<\/p>\n

“My real mama was an adorable little thing \u2013 laughing, singing, playing piano \u2013 but she died of diabetes when I was 4,” says the 72-year-old songstress, also a diabetic, as she mused on the series of childhood events that would fortify her through years of physical adversity.<\/p>\n

“I was so puzzled when they carried Mama\u2019s casket out the door \u2013 I didn\u2019t understand death \u2013 still don\u2019t,” she continues. “So I asked Daddy: \u2018Where do they take Mama?\u2019 He said: \u2018To heaven, with God,\u2019 and that answer set me on a search that has never ended. You see, my father remarried within the year, my six brothers and sisters scattered everywhere, and I was very much alone with a stepmother who beat me. I learned that if I didn\u2019t think about her, she didn\u2019t exist \u2013 I learned to control my mind.”<\/p>\n

The effect of being so alone, as a girl? “It had a wonderful result,” she smiles sweetly, “because I began to talk to the self within. I\u2019ve found wonderful peace and strength within myself.”<\/p>\n

It was strength solely during the last 30 years, as she faced physical ailments brought on, she believes, by workaholism.<\/p>\n

“I did it to myself,” says Lee, who battled life-threatening viral pneumonia twice in the 1960s, then a 1978 bout with Bell\u2019s Palsy that left the right half of her face somewhat immobile, numerous open-heart surgeries and, most recently, a devastating year-long bout with PMR: polyomelitis rheumatica, a neurological disease that left her in bed for a year.<\/p>\n

“PMR is a distant relative of polio,” Lee explains, “and it boils down to being paralyzed due to inflammation of nerves, muscles, and joints \u2013 everything from the neck down. Horrifying pain.” She was spiritually sustained, she says, by her two bibles: Ernest Holmes\u2019 Science of Mind and Baird T. Spaulding\u2019s The Life and Teaching of the Masters of the Far East. <\/p>\n

“I was Ernest\u2019s adopted spiritual daughter and he taught me how to think and concentrate. I believe in mind over matter \u2013 that all my physical problems were caused by overworking, and that I will heal myself.”<\/p>\n

Thanks to physical therapy and true grit, she\u2019s now appearing in her glittering white gowns nightly through August 29 at Club 53 in the New York Hilton Hotel.<\/p>\n

Performing sitting down, Lee\u2019s voice remains crystalline, her sensuous delivery of trademarks like “Fever” and “Ma\u00f1ana” miracles of economy, her spirit, she says, “bubbling, perking and soaring.”<\/p>\n

“Some people,” she muses, “might have killed themselves” given the PMR, or considered retirement, but not Lee. “I don\u2019t believe in death, and I love life enough to say I won\u2019t give up. I don\u2019t know how to stop.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Gene Plaskin “I always thought of myself as a very strange little girl,” chuckles Peggy Lee, remembering herself as Norma Deloris Egstrom, the North Dakota blond abandoned as a toddler, then abused by her wicked stepmother. “My real mama was an adorable little thing \u2013 laughing, singing, playing piano[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-library"],"yoast_head":"\nLee's Triumph of Spirit - Peggy Lee<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/lees-triumph-of-spirit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lee's Triumph of Spirit - Peggy Lee\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Gene Plaskin “I always thought of myself as a very strange little girl,” chuckles Peggy Lee, remembering herself as Norma Deloris Egstrom, the North Dakota blond abandoned as a toddler, then abused by her wicked stepmother. “My real mama was an adorable little thing \u2013 laughing, singing, playing piano[...]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/lees-triumph-of-spirit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Peggy Lee\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/misspeggylee\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-01-19T16:56:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-08-04T14:19:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Peggy-Lee-og.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Torresen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/lees-triumph-of-spirit\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/lees-triumph-of-spirit\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"David Torresen\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5858c3f21b8ac2572f3ad6d6ee48255d\"},\"headline\":\"Lee’s Triumph of Spirit\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-01-19T16:56:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-04T14:19:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/lees-triumph-of-spirit\/\"},\"wordCount\":492,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Library\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/lees-triumph-of-spirit\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/lees-triumph-of-spirit\/\",\"name\":\"Lee's Triumph of Spirit - Peggy Lee\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-01-19T16:56:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-04T14:19:10+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/lees-triumph-of-spirit\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/lees-triumph-of-spirit\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/lees-triumph-of-spirit\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Lee’s Triumph of Spirit\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/\",\"name\":\"Peggy Lee\",\"description\":\"The Official Site of Miss Peggy Lee\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Peggy Lee Associates\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pl-org-logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pl-org-logo.jpg\",\"width\":600,\"height\":600,\"caption\":\"Peggy Lee Associates\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/misspeggylee\/\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/peggyleeofficial\/?hl=en\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCWfdzpDGBCOOWxWVR0fLVNw\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5858c3f21b8ac2572f3ad6d6ee48255d\",\"name\":\"David Torresen\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bf99d02cc4058c2b1b9997b7edc241ed8e9f4dae28767f8380afcd571571e329?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bf99d02cc4058c2b1b9997b7edc241ed8e9f4dae28767f8380afcd571571e329?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"David Torresen\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/author\/dtorresen\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Lee's Triumph of Spirit - Peggy Lee","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/lees-triumph-of-spirit\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Lee's Triumph of Spirit - Peggy Lee","og_description":"by Gene Plaskin “I always thought of myself as a very strange little girl,” chuckles Peggy Lee, remembering herself as Norma Deloris Egstrom, the North Dakota blond abandoned as a toddler, then abused by her wicked stepmother. “My real mama was an adorable little thing \u2013 laughing, singing, playing piano[...]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/lees-triumph-of-spirit\/","og_site_name":"Peggy Lee","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/misspeggylee\/","article_published_time":"2013-01-19T16:56:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-08-04T14:19:10+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Peggy-Lee-og.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"David Torresen","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/lees-triumph-of-spirit\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/lees-triumph-of-spirit\/"},"author":{"name":"David Torresen","@id":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5858c3f21b8ac2572f3ad6d6ee48255d"},"headline":"Lee’s Triumph of Spirit","datePublished":"2013-01-19T16:56:48+00:00","dateModified":"2021-08-04T14:19:10+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/lees-triumph-of-spirit\/"},"wordCount":492,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Library"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/lees-triumph-of-spirit\/","url":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/lees-triumph-of-spirit\/","name":"Lee's Triumph of Spirit - Peggy Lee","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-01-19T16:56:48+00:00","dateModified":"2021-08-04T14:19:10+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/lees-triumph-of-spirit\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/lees-triumph-of-spirit\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/lees-triumph-of-spirit\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lee’s Triumph of Spirit"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/","name":"Peggy Lee","description":"The Official Site of Miss Peggy Lee","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/#organization","name":"Peggy Lee Associates","url":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pl-org-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pl-org-logo.jpg","width":600,"height":600,"caption":"Peggy Lee Associates"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/misspeggylee\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/peggyleeofficial\/?hl=en","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCWfdzpDGBCOOWxWVR0fLVNw"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5858c3f21b8ac2572f3ad6d6ee48255d","name":"David Torresen","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bf99d02cc4058c2b1b9997b7edc241ed8e9f4dae28767f8380afcd571571e329?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bf99d02cc4058c2b1b9997b7edc241ed8e9f4dae28767f8380afcd571571e329?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"David Torresen"},"url":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/author\/dtorresen\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}