Peggy Donosky Dwelle was born Nancy Eudora Belew in Fort Worth to Jeffee and Homer Belew August 17, 1922. She died December 2, 2017 in Dallas.
At age six, her mother, after a divorce from Peggy’s father, married Myer Max Donosky of Dallas who adopted her and her sister, Jane. Her name was changed to Peggy
Donosky.
She lived for a short time in Dallas, followed by four years in Summit, NJ. While there, her parents adopted an infant brother, David. The family returned to Dallas when she was in the fifth grade. After completing the seventh grade at Armstrong Elementary School she entered Highland Park High School and graduated in 1939. That summer she worked at the Dallas Morning News and saved enough money to buy a Ford Model A
roadster.
Peggy attended Southern Methodist University and was a member of Pi Beta Phi sorority. In 1941 she graduated from Fairmont Junior College in Washington, D.C. Peggy lived for a time in 1942 in Washington where she worked for the War Production Board. Myer Donosky, along with Peggy’s mother, was in Washington as a $1-a-year executive. He organized the newspaper division for the federal government as a part of the war effort. Peggy returned to Dallas and worked for the same agency in
downtown Dallas.
On December 12, 1942 she married Richard E (Dick) Dwelle a month before he completed his degree at Rice Institute. They were high school sweethearts at Highland Park High School where Peggy was a cheerleader and Dick was a star athlete. They were 14 when they had their first date in 1936.
Peggy went to work for the Highland Park Ration Board while Dick was in the military service. They lived for a short time in Temple, TX where he received his commission in the Tank Destroyer School at Fort Hood in Mid-March 1944. She returned to Dallas in the spring of 1944 to welcome the arrival of daughter, Donna, while Dick was on his way home from Fort Benning, GA. The new Dwelle family lived together briefly at Camp Wheeler in Macon, GA. Her husband went overseas in November 1944 where he joined the 83rd Infantry Division during the Battle of the Bulge. Dick returned to the US in the spring of 1946. While he was overseas, Peggy purchased a home at 3307 Saint Johns Drive for herself and daughter, Donna.
She and her family moved to Kermit, TX in the summer of 1946 where Dick became co-publisher of the semi-weekly Winkler County News newspaper following his discharge from active military service.
A son, Dan, was born in Dallas in June 1947. A year and a half later in January 1949 the family moved to Athens, TX where they purchased an interest in the Athens Daily Review. The Dwelle family bought the remaining interest in The Review in 1954. Dwelle served 38 years as publisher or co-publisher. The last 14 of those years Dan served with him as co-publisher.
Friends and strangers alike were immediately drawn to Peggy’s vivaciousness, sharp mind and wit. The latter two could be employed most effectively to make her point when she so chose.
Peggy taught Sunday school, led the Youth Fellowship group and served on several committees over the years at First Presbyterian Church. She was a long-time member of the Sewing Club and a past president of the Listeners Club. She liked to make special needlepoint pieces for family members – there was love in every stitch. She enjoyed time with her friends, many of whom were much younger than she, played golf, traveled and was an informed and avid football, baseball and golf fan. She was a member of the Dallas Women’s Club and Comus, a Dallas dance club.
In addition, she was a cast member of Athens Little Theater, did volunteer work in retirement homes and handled exhibits for Friends of the Library at the county library. She was a volunteer at the East Texas Medical Center, Athens.
In late November 2012 she and her husband moved back to Dallas.
Her family includes her late husband, Richard E Dwelle; daughter Donna and son-in-law Gordon G. Marcum II of Houston; son Dan and wife Barbara Christian of Athens and Santa Fe, NM; grandsons Jeff Dwelle and wife Elizabeth of Plano, Stewart McLeod and wife Annie of Dallas and Richard Dwelle of Cairo, Egypt; great-grandsons Dax and Dillon Dwelle and Miles McLeod and great-granddaughter Kylie McLeod; sisters-in-law Patsy Donosky of Dallas and Jeanne Waters of San Antonio. Her sister
Jane Knox and brother David Donosky preceded her in death.
A graveside service is set for 2 p.m., Sunday, December 10 at the Athens City Cemetery with the Rev. Joe W. Warren officiating. A reception will follow at McNair Farm. Autry’s Carroll-Lehr Funeral Home is in charge of the service.
Memorials may be made to the charity of one’s choice.