Staunton's Peck's BBQ announces closing following death of owner

STAUNTON — A local favorite, Staunton's Peck's BBQ, will be closing. The family announced the closure on their website this week.

Opened in 2009 along Lee Jackson Highway in Staunton, the restaurant has a long history in the Shenandoah Valley, dating back to the 1980s.

Following the death of its owner, and namesake, Samuel A. "Peck" Thomas III, the family posted on its website that, as they mourn Thomas, "this feels like the natural end to his story with his beloved restaurant and we will be closing."

According to his obituary, Peck Thomas opened Peck's BBQ in Fishersville in the early 1980s before moving to Waynesboro and, finally, Staunton.

Thomas, 70, passed away at his home on Wednesday, April 24. He was born in November, 1953 in Memphis.

"We thank every customer, vendor, employee, and friend over the decades of his career and for every person thinking of our family during this time," the family wrote on the website.

After his passing, the owners of Sooner BBQ in Stuarts Draft posted about Thomas on their Facebook page.

"I remember not long after I moved here almost 30 years ago eating at his place in Waynesboro where Walgreens sits now," the post read. "Back then I was employed at Ntelos Wireless and all of us would eat there at least once a week. Having moved here from North Dakota I had never had bbq that wasn't saturated in a sticky sweet red bbq sauce. I never ate just 1 sandwich either."

The post went on to say that "Peck's passing will hit all of us in time. When I'm racing down rt 11 on my way to Staunton I won't be swinging in 'just to check the compeition' any more. Hats off to the original area pitmaster."

There will be no formal services and the scattering of his ashes will be at his family cemetery in South Carolina at a later date, the obituary said.

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— Patrick Hite is The News Leader's education reporter. Story ideas and tips always welcome. Contact Patrick (he/him/his) at phite@newsleader.com and follow him on Twitter @Patrick_Hite . Subscribe to us at newsleader.com .

This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Staunton's Peck's BBQ announces closing following death of owner