Peggy Lorraine Wildy

A native Washingtonian who remained a devoted resident of the District until her homegoing. Peggy was born on April 3, 1926 to the late Lovest Hayden and Hattie Torney.

Peggy was the third of four siblings. She was a product of the District of Columbia Public School System, and attended Briggs-Montgomery Elementary, Francis Junior High School, and Benjamin N. Cardozo High School. Peggy married her childhood friend and sweetheart Newman Jerome Wildy. Together, Peggy and Newman were loving parents to seven children: Ronald, Michael, Debra, Kim (Wildy-Barnes), Jody, Mark, and Lisa Wildy (deceased).

A consummate chef, Peggy loved to cook, and her potato salad recipe was revered by family and friends alike. Peggy transferred her skill and creativity in the culinary arts to a twenty-three-year career in food service that spanned from 1965-1988. Prior to working for the District of Columbia Public School System, she served a pillar of the Washington community—Walter Reed Army Medical Center—from 1949-1953. Peggy retired happily after years of productive and fruitful service to the District in April of 1988.

Outside of her passion for cuisine, Peggy was a good-humored soul who loved to dance and enjoy the musical stylings of classic crooners like the legendary Nat King Cole. Peggy’s love of dance and music were rivaled only by her love for gardening and an unending desire to remain active, as evidence by her years as a constant presence at Curves exercise center. The only passion that outweighed her love of activity, gardening, music, dancing and cooking was her love for children. She unwaveringly cherished her children, and her love for them invariably extended outward to her children’s friends, leading her to earn the unofficial, yet vaunted, position of neighborhood mom.

Peggy, her laughter, her food, and her joy, will all be dearly missed by her children and grandchildren. She leaves six of her seven children to mourn her passing. She will also be remembered by an extended family of grandchildren, including Capri Thornton, Damion Wildy, Caron Wildy, Keenan Wildy, Herve Rouse, Jasmine Barnes, Marcel Wildy, Brandon Wildy, and Erin Wildy-Kirkland; daughter-in-law’s Carlene Wildy and Margaret Wildy; eleven great-grandchildren; and a host of nephews, nieces, and friends.

Peggy was preceded in death by Newman Wildy; her older sisters, Bernita Johnson and Dorothy Baker; and her younger sister, Erma Monroe; her eldest grandchild, Shawn Wildy; and her youngest daughter, Lisa Wildy.