Peggy Marie Smith

Peggy Marie Smith, 96, a retired educator and mother affectionally known by her family as “Gammy”, died at her home in Oklahoma City on July 6, 2025, surrounded by family and friends.

A memorial service will be held at 1:30 pm on August 14, 2025 at the Southern Hills United Methodist Church, 8200 S. Pennsylvania Avenue in Oklahoma City, where she was a member.

Peggy was born on November 15, 1928, in Chickasha, Oklahoma, the daughter of Beatty Steven Cable and Leatha Lela Laging Cable. Most of her childhood was spent in south Oklahoma City, where her family lived behind her father’s service station and store, where she fancied the candy inventory.

She was an adventurous child who loved getting into trouble with her two brothers. They would chase each other around the store, play chicken on railroad tracks, and walk the ledges of billboards along the highway to see who could stay up the longest without falling off. She caught crawdads in a nearby pond and cooked their tails. “There wasn't much to eat,” she once said. “But it was a lot of fun.”

She graduated from Capitol Hill High School in 1946. She then attended the University of Oklahoma, where she obtained a B.S. degree in Education. She later obtained her Master’s in Education.

As a student at OU, Peggy dated Adair Smith, a World War II GI who had returned to college. For their first date, Adair invited her to attend an OU football game. It would be the first of many games to come. He later proposed to her on the university golf course (which she did not find nearly as romantic as he did). They were married in Oklahoma City in 1949 and had their wedding reception in Adair’s one-room downtown Oklahoma City apartment which they rented for $27 per month.

When the Korean War began and Adair returned to a career in the U.S. Army, the young couple moved around as his station changed with each deployment – to Panama, California, North Carolina, Maryland, Georgia and other places. But not all their time was spent doing military things. During that time, the couple had four reasonably intelligent children.

Peggy loved traveling, exposing her children to new things, and always worked outside the home wherever they lived, primarily as a teacher.

After Adair’s military retirement in the early 70s, the couple moved to Grove, Oklahoma, near where her parents then lived. They bought a house on Grand Lake where Peggy swam a mile every day. She taught in Grove, then worked at the Northeast Area Vo-Tech school. She taught business classes and developed practical programs for young women embarking on careers in the business world.

Her children and grandchildren remember her teaching them how to type and later keyboard “so they could always get a job.”

Peggy instilled in her children a work ethic and the importance of education. She stressed to her daughters and granddaughters the importance of independence. Regardless of where she lived, she would find or create a job for herself and then throw herself into it. She taught courses to servicemen and civil servants on military bases, including Tinker Air Force Base, in public schools at every level, vo-tech and business schools, and colleges.

She worked in the business division of the Oklahoma State Department of Vocational and Technical Education where her supervisor once wrote, “Peggy is not afraid of work – in fact, we must tell her to stop.” After “retiring”, she worked for many years as a consultant for McGraw-Hill Publishing company, traveling to schools all over Oklahoma.

Peggy’s adventurous nature and willingness to travel and explore continued as an adult. Witnesses once reported seeing her dancing at the House of Blues in the New Orleans French Quarter. She loved the ocean and was always ready for a trip to any beach. After retirement, she and Adair took annual vacations to Alabama and Florida, where Peggy swam in the gulf, Adair played golf, and both could spend lots of time with their grandchildren.

In 2006, Peggy and Adair moved to Oklahoma City. There, she was able to spend more time with her sister, Roma.

Peggy was a member of P.E.O., a non-profit organization that helps women pursue their education through a scholarship program. She volunteered for Whiz Kids of Oklahoma, a tutoring and mentorship program for children and enjoyed church activities and book club.

Peggy loved swimming, purchasing things online, watching her OU Sooners football (and an occasional Hallmark Channel movie), and spending time with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Her independent nature never changed. After Adair’s death, she lived on her own, and devoted considerable time to supporting and encouraging her family. If there was a family event she could attend, she wanted to be there regardless of where it was or how she felt. When she was 93, she said, “Yes I still drive and would have to say I am better at it than my children and grandchildren.”.

Peggy was strong-willed and opinionated, but never mean or spiteful. Most of all, she loved her family dearly and cherished their moments together.

Peggy was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Adair, and her brothers James Cable, John Cable and brother Samuel F. Cable, who died in infancy. She is survived by her sister Roma Cox of Moore, her children Sylvia Sterling of Muskogee, Sherry Smith of Oklahoma City, Mark Smith of Santa Cruz, California and Scott Smith and his wife Lynn of Daphne, Alabama; grandchildren Melissa Smith, Thomas Sterling, Jessy Smith, Jordan Smith, Rae Smith, Brittany Wilkerson, Taylor Smith, Tyler Smith, Amy Points, Hayden Honn; and great-grandchildren Mason Smith, Forrest Smith, Winter Smith, Gabriel Smith, Sutton Wilkerson, Spencer Wilkerson, Finley Sterling, Liam Sterling, Merrick Sterling, Parker Sterling, Graham Corban, Jake Corban, Tripp Corban and Ryland Honn; daughter in law Stacy Smith, son in law Mort Welch, numerous nieces and nephews and dear family friend Gloria Jimenez.

In lieu of flowers the family encourages memorial gifts to the City Rescue Mission (cityrescue.org) and the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma (rfbo.org).

www.smithandkernke.com