Former beauty queen's business celebrates 30 years in operation

By Mary Cristy, Special to the Town Crier

Peggy Boyd still runs a successful health center at 151 First St. in Los Altos. The center celebrated its 30th anniversary this year.

Peggy Boyd of Peggy’s Health Center, at 151 First St., recalled decades of service to the thousands of clients who sing her praises. Her store is celebrating 30 years of operation this year.

But few are aware of Boyd’s colorful past, the number of challenging roles she has played, and her myriad talents. Boyd’s Army nurse mother, who served in France in World War I, was a nutritionist.

So, long before Boyd earned her certified nutritionist diploma and bachelor’s degree at Kentucky’s Sacred Heart University, she’d learned the link between a good diet and good health. Although she was an exemplary student, school holidays with classmates gave her a taste for wine.

“While they drank moderately, it soon became clear that I had a more than average capacity for alcohol,” Boyd recalled.

By now Boyd’s beauty was in full bloom.

A career as a model was the next logical step. Boyd left Kentucky for Chicago, where Marshall Field’s offered her an opportunity to foster her career as a model.

Her success brought Boyd to the West Coast, where the field broadened. In a Miss California contest she was runner-up. The pace intensified as she won roles in movies and TV commercials and starred at important community events.

As work became more demanding, Boyd began to use alcohol to relieve stress.

Still, modeling assignments came thick and fast until Boyd was jarred one morning when she reported for a lucrative shoot. The photographer scrutinized her critically through the camera lens.

“You’ve been drinking,” he snapped. “It shows in your face. Go home and straighten yourself out.”

“I realized how unforgiving the camera could be,” Boyd said. “Now, I could no longer hope to get by on my looks. I was frightened as I saw my glowing future slipping away.”

She made the critical decision to go to Alcoholics Anonymous. “But it took four meetings” before she could admit to herself and others that she was an addict.

“My good fortune was a chance encounter with a San Jose doctor at AA, and his then unorthodox theories about alcoholics and nutrition,” Boyd said. “He’d been experimenting and discovered a ’secret weapon.’ It was a supplement called niacin, and he found it corrected the chemical imbalance that afflicts all alcoholics. ‘I don’t know why it works,’ he admitted, ‘but I know it does.’”

Boyd’s research took this healing element a step farther. “The doctor’s creation was not palatable. I whipped up a better tasting brew and began the treatBy Mary Cristy

Peggy Boyd of Peggy’s Health Center, at 151 First St., recalled decades of service to the thousands of clients who sing her praises. Her store is celebrating 30 years of operation this year.

But few are aware of her colorful past, the number of challenging roles she has played, and the myriad talents that might have led her to the same level of achievement in other professions.

In retrospect, Boyd turned out to have a mission - and, like many others whom fate seems to have chosen for a special niche, she came to hers by a circuitous route, with obstacles along the way.

Boyd’s well-deserved fame as a certified nutritional consultant rests on a cornerstone of training and experience. Her Army nurse mother, who served in France in World War I, was a nutritionist. A photo of her on Boyd’s office wall shows she was not only bright, but beautiful.

So, long before Boyd earned her certified nutritionist diploma and bachelor’s degree at Kentucky’s Sacred Heart University, she’d learned the link between a good diet and good health. Although she was an exemplary student, with good grades, school holidays with classmates gave her a taste for wine.

“While they drank moderately, it soon became clear that I had a more than average capacity for alcohol,” Boyd recalled.

By now Boyd’s beauty was in full bloom. “Vanity!” she hooted derisively. “I loved my looks and got by on them.”

A career as a model was the next logical step. Boyd left Kentucky for Chicago, where the upscale Marshall Fields offered her a golden opportunity to foster her career as a model. Competition in beauty contests followed, and she was soon winning crowns.

Her success in the style of Hollywood’s pinup girls brought Boyd to the West Coast, where the field broadened. In a Miss California contest she was runner-up. The pace intensified as she won roles in movies and TV commercials and starred at important community events.

“On one assignment I was required to ride a steer in a rodeo. I’d never even sat on a horse and didn’t know one end from the other,” she said. The steer did its best to throw her, “but I hung on, quivering, and managed to survive.”

ment. We had found the ’secret weapon’ and given the disease a name - hypoglycemia,” Boyd said.

There followed TV interviews and stories by journalists who’d heard of her plight and admired her spirit.

“It’s not easy to break a habit of years,” she said ruefully.

Some of the people who stood by her decided to set up their still-beautiful but not-yet-triumphant friend. “They made a blind date for me with a San Francisco attorney named Robert Boyd. I hated blind dates,” Boyd recalled.

Two weeks later Peggy and Bob ran off to Carmel to get married.

They set up house in Los Altos. The marriage lasted happily and ended 27 years later with Bob’s death. Peggy’s eyes grew pensive as she recalled “a marriage made in heaven.”

It was Bob who stood by her through their first four difficult years, when Peggy still had some unfinished business with maintaining sobriety.

“I had a dream,” Peggy said. “Bob went along with it. I wanted to start a health-food store. I had grown beyond my former life and was motivated to help others recover their health and self-esteem as I had.”

In an otherwise empty lot on First Street there was a small, ramshackle structure that had been used as an antique store.

“I found out it belonged to the late Jack Diamond, a Los Altos contractor,” Peggy said. “I gave Jack our check for $20,000, and Bob and I were in business.”

It didn’t take long for residents and visitors to beat a path to her door. A glance at Peggy’s credentials (almost half a wall in her office is covered with diplomas and certificates) attests to her qualifications.

“It’s an ongoing process of learning and requires constant vigilance to stay in touch with new developments and treatments,” Peggy reflected. “There are all kinds of products emerging to improve health and preserve beauty.”

Given the economic turndown, is she fearful? She laughed heartily. “I’ve just begun,” she said confidently.

“I have a wonderful life, and there’s more to come.”