Obituary of Peggy Ann Grogan

Early in the morning of June 7, 2018, our Mother/sister/friend Peggy Ann Grogan died at the age of 82 after a brief stay in a hospice unit.On September 22, 1935, Peggy was born to the late William James and Marian Agnes Gray in Waco, Texas. As a child, her family moved many times due to her father’s work as a bookkeeper. With some longer stints in Vernon, Texas and Altus, Oklahoma, they finally moved to Fort Worth where she started 7th grade at her 7th school. Ultimately, the family moved to Handley. As a young girl, she was a self-described tom boy who loved to climb trees and attend baseball games with her father. She went to Handley High School where she was a majorette and the band Sweetheart. She was also the editor for the school newspaper, and graduated valedictorian of her class at age 17. She attended Texas Christian University where she majored in the Language Arts. In 1957, she and Marcus Lee Grogan were wed at Magnolia Christian Church in Fort Worth, beginning a marriage that lasted more than fifty years and produced the lights of her life, her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She followed in her father’s footsteps and was a bookkeeper throughout her career that included work in many industries, from construction to law to oil and gas to her last job, and her favorite, as the administrator, or church lady as we liked to call her, at First Christian Church in downtown Fort Worth.She collected friends all along the way, friends she’s had since school and new ones she’s made in the last few years going to dialysis, and all those in between that she found at work, or at the beauty shop, or in the neighborhood, or through her children. She was a positive force, a delight, and was loved by many. She was the consummate hostess and there was always a party when her family and friends gathered. She loved good food and was a great cook. She was full of wisdom and knowledge and was unbeatable in Jeopardy or Trivial pursuit. She was a woman of many talents and skills but the thing she did the best was love. To know her was to be loved by her, and she loved us all so well. She was also a fighter and tenacious and she held on as long as she could for all of us. Her last few years were an onslaught of difficult health issues, but she handled it all with such grace–amazing grace–just like our father who preceded her in death.She is survived by her children, Marcus Grogan Jr. and wife Donna of Weatherford, Michael Grogan and wife Marcia of Arlington and Elizabeth Craig and husband Charles of Driftwood; sister Marian Hester Benson and husband Floyd, grandchildren, April, Marcus, Steven, Ben, Shelby, Matthew, Lucas and Ian; and great-grandchildren, Nolan and Adrian Martinez, Leyla and Cullen Sharpe, Landyn Grogan, and many nieces, nephews and friends.