Peggy Wiggins Titus

Peggy was born in Belmont, SC to Laurie Howell and Kathryn Smith Wiggins on March 6, 1939.

Shortly after her birth, her parents moved to Charleston, SC, where at an early age Peggy demonstrated the the first of many talents she would develop and demonstrate during the remainder of her life. At age 8, she was singing on the radio every Saturday morning and acting in local little theater.

At age 11 the family moved to Jacksonville, FL, where Peggy continued her singing on television, little theater, and school productions, as well as the Miami Convention Circuit. Upon graduating, she was awarded a personal voice scholarship to Jacksonville University where she studied with a former Metropolitan Opera performer.

She taught herself to sew, and designed and made all of her formal and signing costumes. That sewing ability later graduated into hand-made wedding dresses, including her own.

Always contending that her plans were for a Broadway career, her mother was astounded when after her third date with a classmate's West Point cadet brother, Charles Titus, Peggy declared he was the man she was going to marry. True to her word, three years later on June 8, 1960, two hours after the West Point graduation, Charles (Chuck) and Peggy were married in the Cadet Chapel. Their wedding was covered by The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the RKO Newsreel.

For the next six and a half years, Peggy played the role of an Army Officer's wife and mother to Ronald Carl Titus and David Paul Titus, their two sons. During those years, Chuck was either in some kind of advanced training or in Vietnam. He was killed on January 28, 1967 on his second tour.

Six months later, Peggy moved with her two sons to the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC to attend the University of Maryland, where she obtained a BS degree in Journalism.

Shortly after graduation, she was hired as the PR person for a Republican Congressman. At the end of one month she resigned, citing that her more liberal views were incompatible with the congressman's conservative politics.

After that, she was to find the perfect outlet for both her writing and organizing talents as the Program Director for the Union of the Employees of the National Education Association. After three years, she then moved to Ohio where she was an employee advocate and negotiator for the Ohio Education Association. During her 22 year tenure, she negotiated over one hundred and fifty labor agreements, handled hundreds of employee grievances, and worked on over thirty teacher strikes.

She retired from OEA in 1994, did interior design for 18 months, and then moved to North Carolina at the request of her best friend, who was the Director of Field Services for the North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE). She then spent eight and a half years as the lead advocate and representative for the 5,000 Wake NCAE members. After retiring for the second time in 2005, she then worked as a substitute teacher for the Wake County Public School System until 2020.

During her years in Raleigh, Peggy became an avid hostess, catering extravagant Christmas parties for forty to fifty people each year, and catering dinners for a US State Department program that brought professionals from former USSR Republics, such as teachers, judges, doctors, city planners, and artists to study American institutions and operations.

But her most prized accomplishment was the development over 24 years of her garden, which was on two National Garden Conservancy tours, on the tour for The National Hosta Convention (three hundred and forty garden viewers over a three-day weekend), and the Southern Perennial Symposium tour in 2018. Her garden was often the site of many hosting gigs, including political fundraisers and two weddings.

Peggy is survived by her sons Ronald C. Titus of Atlanta, GA, David Titus of Las Vegas, NV, and five grandchildren; grandson Charles Titus of Madrid, Spain, and Reilly, Gregory, Rachel, and Reese of Tampa, FL.

Peggy will be cremated, and her ashes will be interred with Chuck at West Point.

Brown-Wynne, 300 Saint Mary's Street, Raleigh is serving the Titus family