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After 35 years of serving together as Salvation Army officers, Majors James and Peggy Ross have retired from active duty.
Both Jim and Peggy were called to ministry at a young age. Jim first heard the call at age eight in his father’s church in Sheridan, Wyoming. He began attending The Salvation Army in Sheridan when he was 12, and in a few years he moved to Seattle where he became a soldier, bandsman and songster at the Seattle Citadel Corps.
He never wavered from that early call to serve God. In preparation for ministry, he studied Biblical Literature at Seattle Pacific University and went on to receive the MDiv degree at Nazarene Theological Seminary before attending the School for Officer Training.
After being commissioned in 1970 with the Undaunted Session, he married Peggy Barringer, who had been commissioned the previous year with the Evangelists Session.
Peggy was born in Bebee, Arkansas, but soon moved to Coos Bay, Oregon, where she started attending the Army when she was two years old. At 15, she was called to officership, and sought to prepare herself by completing corps cadets, leading YPL, playing in the band and helping in worship services. Sure of her calling, she entered training after completing high school.
After serving for a year in Centralia, Washington, she married Jim, and the two began ministering together. They held appointments in Washington, Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, California and Oregon—for 29 years as corps officers, for one year in ARC training, and for five years in Silvercrest management. During this time they were blessed with five children.
They retired as the occupancy specialists at the Santa Rosa, California Silvercrest Senior Citizens’ Residence.
Major Peggy Ross writes that “God blessed and used us in every appointment we had,” and she praises God for his direction over the course of their officership.
The Rosses’ retirement address is 2311 Colorado Avenue, Caldwell, ID 83605.