Peggy Anderson Watts, 97, died Saturday, February 15, 2020, at Pleasant View Home, Inman, Kansas.
Peggy was born June 7, 1922, in Hill City, Kansas, to Flora Charlotte Sickler and Frederick Steiner. Her mother remarried Oba Braxton “Jack” King and Peggy used King as her surname throughout her adult life. She attended Roosevelt Grade School, McPherson Junior High and in 1940 graduated from McPherson High School, McPherson, Kansas.
Peggy and Irvin M. Anderson were married January 1, 1941, in McPherson and enjoyed their 44 years together. They lived in Salina, Hutchinson and Russell, Kansas. After retirement, they moved from Russell to McPherson in 1976 and opened The Olde Deli, which operated for 10 years. Irvin died in February 1985.
After the sale of the deli, Peggy managed the McPherson Senior Center Food Service for several years. She was an active volunteer at McPherson Memorial Hospital Auxiliary and McPherson County Food Bank.
She especially liked socializing with friends and family and was an avid Bridge player. Peggy also enjoyed needlework, knitting, traveling and cooking. She was still making delicious scratch cinnamon rolls in her 90s.
On February 2, 2009, she and Raymond R. Watts, Jr., were married at the First Congregational United Church of Christ, McPherson. They met while volunteering at McPherson County Food Bank and thoroughly enjoyed their short time together. Ray died on January 5, 2011.
After Ray’s death, Peggy moved first to Pleasant View Estates in Inman then to Ivy Grove at Pleasant View, where she resided until her death. She loved her new home and friends, and staff members were so kind, she could not have wished for better care.
Peggy is survived by her children, Charlotte Crawford (Kent, Knoxville, Tennessee, Marietta Anderson and Michael Anderson, both of Wichita, Kansas.
She is also survived by grandchildren Lara Crawford (Dan Brown, Clare Crawford (David Palmer, Jimmy Miller (Patricia) and Joseph Miller (Brenna, 14 great grandchildren and five great-great grandchildren.
Peggy was preceded in death by her parents; her husbands Irvin Anderson and Raymond Watts; her brothers Gladwin “Jack,” Marvin, Hollis, Kenneth (Joyce, Gilbert Norwood King; sisters Ellen Palmatier, Charlene Martin, son-in-law Warren Norton and close extended family Dorothy and Robert Laird.
A memorial service will be held Monday, February 24, at 11 a.m., at St. Peter’s United Church of Christ, 111 N. Pine, Inman, Kansas. Lunch follows the service.
A private family burial will be held at Canton Township Cemetery, Canton, Kansas at a later date. Memorials may be made to St Peter’s United Church of Christ or McPherson Hospital Auxiliary and can be sent to Glidden-Ediger Funeral Home, 222 West Euclid Street, McPherson, Kansas 67460.