Starr Peardon, former drug addict and ex-con, changed lives
The B.C. Catholic
A shining light for drug-addicted and formerly incarcerated women has died. Starr Peardon, the foundress of the Talitha Koum Society, passed away early Oct. 20.
“Her greatest desire was to reach out to assist other women coming out of an institutional environment,” said eulogist Sister Denece Billesberger, SCJ.
“Her heart was always wanting to give back, and she had a dream of helping women who had been incarcerated to re-enter the community without having to return to the abusive relationships that led to their life of crime.”
Peardon founded Talitha Koum in 1999 for women who were addicted to drugs and had been imprisoned. The society operates homes where women can battle addiction, realize their worth, and learn life skills to get back on track.
“She saved many lives,” said Louise Gough, a friend and a Talitha Koum volunteer. Gough first met Peardon about 15 years ago, when Peardon was in meetings trying to get Talitha Koum on its feet.
“She made an impression because she kept saying: ‘You’re not doing anything. You’re just talking.’ Starr, who had no experience at all organizing a non-profit society, found a house, rented the house, and opened it up.”
The program Peardon launched, named after the words Jesus spoke to bring a young girl back to life, was the only one of its kind in the Lower Mainland.
“It wasn’t just a house of recovery. It was a house of wholeness and spiritual recovery. No face, no creed was turned away.”
Peardon’s heart for these women came from years spent in their shoes. After family tragedy, she became addicted to heroin, cocaine, and marijuana and turned to crime to support her habit. She was in and out of prison, serving sentences for crimes like armed robbery.
“I was in prison, coming off heroin and having a really rough time. My state of mind was: I wanted to die,” she told The B.C. Catholic in 1999, sharing her story while raising funds to launch Talitha Koum.
A prison chaplain prayed for her, and in the following days, Peardon began reading the Bible and praying. But 15 minutes after stepping out of prison doors, she was back on drugs. She overdosed, broke her parole, lived on the streets, and continued looking for the next fix.
“God was still there,” Peardon said. “He wasn’t going to let me go!”
She went to prison for the last time in 1993. She continued fighting her addictions and learning about faith. Peardon was baptized a Catholic in 1995 at St. Paul’s Church in North Vancouver.
She became the founder of Talitha Koum and won a Courage to Come Back Award in 2010. Friends say her experience made her the right person to start the society.
“You couldn’t get away with anything with Starr, because she’d been there, done that, and she knew,” said Gough.
“This was her great gift for these women, because they couldn’t manipulate her and they couldn’t put anything over on her. She could see right through them. This made for respect and trust. They had tremendous respect for her.”
Peardon retired in 2012, and St. Mary’s Parish in Vancouver hosted the celebration. Women whose lives she had changed attended the party; many called her “Mom” or “Grandma.”
“She had a real love for the women she was ministering to,” said Jack Ong, who served on the board of directors for Talitha Koum. “She would fight for them,” even when the organization was short on funds and thinking about stopping operations for a time.
“It never happened because of the force of Starr’s personality. She started calling everybody she knew, and she would exhort us to call everyone we knew. You couldn’t say no to Starr Peardon.”
She died a month before her 65th birthday while recovering from heart surgery. The funeral was held at St. Mary’s Oct. 29.
Talitha Koum is currently running under executive director Sharon De Lalla.
