Her daughter Bree Peddie's children Stella and Beau, and her daughter Klaire Peddie's child Nora, relished spending time with Mrs Peddie at her Marks Point home.

"They would choose Nan over us," Bree said.

"It was 'Can I call Nan? Can I sleep at Nan's?'

"It was just Nan, Nan, Nan over anyone else."

Klaire said the grandchildren would want to stay with Nan whenever it was time for return home.

"My daughter was saying 'Nan' before she said 'Mum'," she said.

Mrs Peddie's husband Ken said his wife was a "magnet to all ages", including students and colleagues at Belmont High, where she worked for 22 years and had been the school administration manager for the past 11 years.

"Younger kids, older people, everyone loved her," he said.

"She was just a natural. All ages, she had them all covered."

Mrs Peddie passed away on May 4, the day before her 60th birthday.

She had been intending to spend most of term two on leave, with her family - her daughter Bree's third child is due on June 7 - and at the Peddies' cafe, Q & Co at Warners Bay.

She had been healthy before she had her appendix removed in late March.

She was home for a week, before she received a diagnosis of acute myeloid leukaemia and went into Calvary Mater Hospital on April 8.

She commenced treatment on April 9 under doctors and nurses who were "super caring", especially Dr Sam Lung Sang Yuen.

The Peddies said even when ill, their matriarch was still putting others before herself and showing her trademark strength, optimism and cheekiness, bantering with Klaire's partner Mat and teasing Bree's partner Brad about his footy tips.

"She was so positive even in the hardest times," Bree said.

"She was just worried about us the whole time.

"You'd ring and she was like 'How are you? What are you doing?' She'd Facetime the kids."

Mr Peddie said she had an easy rapport with medical staff.

"The nurses loved her in there," he said.

"She was so easy to get on with and was always having banter with them.

"She was always saying thank you for everything, 'Thanks sweetie, thanks darling'."

He said his wife had lost her father when she was 16 to a brain tumour and her sister in 2013.

She'd also seen Mr Peddie's brother Bill die from the same type of leukaemia on February 7.

"She was so stoic," Mr Peddie said.

"She kept us and emotions in check.

"She was just incredibly strong.

"She was saying to us 'We'll get it, we'll be right."

IN THE NEWS:

Mr Peddie met his future wife at the Orana Hotel in 1982 and was captivated by her smile.

"She was so stunning," he said.

"She was the best looker in Newcastle, absolutely.

"Just her personality - she was down to earth and did not have tickets on herself, although you couldn't blame her if she did."

They married in 1988 and welcomed daughter Bree later that year and Klaire in 1990.

"She was a goer, she never stopped, all for the family," he said.

"She was 'can-do'."

Bree and Klaire said their mum was "devoted" and loved having them over and taking meal requests, including for her lasagna, especially when the girls had pregnancy cravings.

"Everything was the best for us - it did not matter how stressful, she did not think about that - it was always the best for the kids," Bree said.

"She was so dedicated, so loving, so protective, even to all our friends as well.

"She did not miss anything, was always at sport carnivals, she coached the netball team at primary school, she would do absolutely anything and everything for both Klaire and I."

Mr Peddie said his wife welcomed the girls' friends into their home and was "best mates without being best mates" with her daughters.

"She got the balance really right between being able to teach us things and discipline us, but she was also that friend you want to hang out with," Klaire said.

Belmont High principal Gareth Erskine said "vibrant" Mrs Peddie was a much-loved member of staff, who called colleagues bloss or sweetie.

"She was famous in the educational setting, Lee," Mr Erskine said.

"A lot of people don't know Belmont High School without Lee.

"She was very positive, energetic, very good at what she did.

"She took a lot of pride in her work and just was incredibly supportive, always had a good word to say about people and saw the best in people.

"Everyone remembers her for her smile."

Mr Erskine said staff could have taken time off when Mrs Peddie died last week.

"They just got on with the job because that was the example Lee's always set for them, they said that's what she would have done."

Mr Erskine said he wanted to give every staff member the opportunity to attend Mrs Peddie's May 11 funeral and not have to return to work.

"We had 35 teachers, admin staff, teacher's aides from all schools in the Lake Macquarie area coming out and taking lessons... Lee had touched so many people's lives."

He said about 50 current and 20 former staff were among the 400 mourners.

The Peddies said they were taking things hour by hour.

"It's odd to not talk to or see her everyday," Bree said.

"It still does not seem real."

She said Stella would point at "Nan's star" in the sky.

"We'll never stop talking about her, never stop teaching them about her," she said.

"Even with this baby, she was so excited and we'll always make sure this baby knows who she is and how much it already meant to her."

Klaire said the baby's arrival would be "the hardest moment and one of the best moments".

"You're excited of course to have this other baby join us, but then it definitely reminds you that we're adding someone but then we're missing someone as well."

She said the family would "do what Mum would do" in the face of hardship and continue to support each other, just as Mrs Peddie knew they would.

"That's the biggest way we can honour Mum, is to live how she would live and how she would want us to live.

"Of course she would want us to be happy again, even though it's going to take a while and it's never going to feel like it did before."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: