Margaret Bakewell Rather

Margaret “Peggy” Bakewell Rather died peacefully at home in Houston on Wednesday evening, the 12th of December 2012. She was born on the 5th of September 1920 in Sewickley, Pennsylvania to Donald Campbell Bakewell and Margaret Jennings Bakewell.

She grew up in Sewickley and Hyannis Port, Massachusetts where her family had a summer home. Peggy attended Westover School and Bucknell University. After living in Massachusetts, Peggy moved to Houston with her family in the early fifties.

Peggy’s children and grandchildren were a key focus of her life and she gave, in her direct Yankee way, her love, time and energy to helping and guiding them.

Her other passions were golf, gardening, decorating and her house in Burton. After learning golf from her father, she pursued the game with zeal and became an accomplished player, winning several club championships.

A member of the River Oaks Garden club for over fifty three years, she was an avid gardener who loved nothing better than working in her gardens in Houston and Burton.

She had a keen eye for design and decorating and her home was always elegant and understated. She invariably tinkered with the décor of her children’s homes and there was no doubt when she had visited.

In the early seventies, Peggy bought a house in Burton, Texas. She spent many wonderful days there and delighted in playing dominoes with her friends and neighbors and being known as the “Weekend Mayor of Burton”.

Peggy was a strong woman who lived her life with a passion, energy and directness that affected all who knew her. She will be sorely missed.

She is survived by her daughter, Margaret “Cherry” Rather Curlet and husband, Nigel Curlet, of Houston and her son, Roy Randolph “Randy” Rather and wife, Mary Belle Rogers, of Round Top, Texas; and three grandchildren, Alexander Shearer Curlet and wife, Catherine Henson Curlet, of Washington DC, Anna Bakewell Rather of Minerva, Ohio and Frances Jennings Rather of New York City. She is also survived by her sister Dorothy Jennings Bakewell of San Francisco and her nieces, Page Bakewell Stearns of Edgecomb, Maine, and Jenifer Jennings Bakewell of Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. She is predeceased by her parents and her brother, Richard Jennings Bakewell.

The family would particularly like to thank Nico Robelo, who has worked with the family for many years and loved Peggy and helped her immeasurably over the last few years, In addition the family would like to thank Peggy’s care givers Aurelia Sarno, Mary Tuazon, Ophelia Rodrigo, Josie Micaller who provided wonderful support to her over her last years.

Friends are cordially invited to gather with the family and share remembrances of Peggy during a reception, at her home, from five o’clock in the afternoon until eight o’clock in the evening on Thursday, the 20th December.

In lieu of customary remembrances, the family requests that memorial contributions be directed to: Houston Arboretum and Nature Center, 4501 Woodway Drive, Houston, Tx 77024; or Houston Hospice, 1905 Holcombe Boulevard, Houston Tx 77030.