 When she was 9 years old she watched as her father, Jack McKnight, spent most of the 1953 Worldcon in his metal shop machining the first Hugo Award rockets, which he had been recruited to do at the last minute, making it to the Convention just in time for the Hugo Ceremony.A few years later, at the age of 12, she attended her first science fiction convention, Philcon, with her parents, and at the age of 16, she attended Pittcon, her first World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), where she met her future husband, Robert K. (Bob) Pavlat.From the mid-1960s on, Peggy Rae was an active member of WSFA, attended conventions across the country, and often found herself on the con committee.