Peg was raised in Indiana, received her college education at Earlham College and has participated in Continuing Education in Political Science and History at UAA.

Peg arrived in Alaska in 1972 with husband Jules and three daughters.  Ever since, she has engaged in a variety of important Alaskan and community issues in meaningful and substantial ways. Peg helped establish a number of organizations, and then continued her  involvement by serving as a volunteer, director, chair or advisor. She co-founded, and helped govern, such organizations as: Alaska Common  Ground; Trustees for Alaska; Alaska Center for the Environment; Alaska Women’s Environmental Network (1994), and the Alaska Conservation Foundation. Additionally, she has served as a director and/or officer of a number of community organizations including: Chugach Electric association; Anchorage Parks and Recreation Council; Alaska Conservation Alliance; Alaska Conservation Voters; Commonwealth North Fund Permanent Committee, Alaskans for Better Media and the Anchorage Recycling Task Force. Peg has served in an advisory capacity to the governor through appointments to the Alaska Highway Natural Gas Policy Council and Alaska Water Resources Board.  In 1980-83, she served on the National Board of Directors of the Sierra Club.

The University of Alaska Anchorage, in granting Peg an Honorary Doctorate of Laws, May, 2009, accurately summarized the multiple  contributions this community activist has made in shaping Alaska, by awarding the degree “…in recognition of her dedication to conserving the beauty and resources of this Great Land, as well as encouraging all Alaskans to engage in respectful dialogue on issues of importance to them”.   Peg currently manages the “What’s Up” environmental list serve which provides a weekly summary of pending environmental actions and  meetings throughout the state in which the public can participate. She is the President of Tileston & Associates.

In recognition of her activism on behalf of environmental and community issues, Peg has received a variety of honors such as: the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Alaska Conservation Foundation (2004); the YWCA Woman of Achievement Award (1998); Alaska Public Interest Research Group Award; inclusion in Who’s Who of American Women and the Feinstone Environmental Award (1995). In an unusual twist, Peg and husband Jules have been honored, for their individual contributions, by the Alaska Conservation Alliance and the Resource Development Cuncil through the creation of the “Tileston Award”, given jointly by these two organizations to honor an individual, organization or business “that create solutions advancing both environmental and development goals”.

In addition to the lasting contribution Peg has made through her leadership roles in a variety of community organizations, perhaps her greatest and most enduring influence will prove to be her role as mentor to young women leaders. One such young woman summarized her experience by stating that Peg was able to “identify young women leaders and then mentor them into professional paths.  She has kept a watch on these young leaders and then maintained relationships with them as a colleague, something that is difficult for many people of  her experience and involvement”.