PEGGY LEA BRYANT

Peggy Lea Bryant was born June 7, 1955, at the Pawnee Hospital in Pawnee, OK. She was the oldest of the two girls born to the late Walter Leroy Bryant & Peggy Joyce Bryant. Her sister, the late Vickie Rae Speece, was born a little over 2 years after she was.  

Peggy grew up in the Assemblies of God Church & accepted Jesus as her Savior at a young age. As a child she loved attending Turner Falls Youth Camp each summer.  She, like her sister, was also a self-taught pianist & played the piano by ear. In her younger years, she even played the piano at her church upon request.

Peggy attended Pawnee Public Schools through the 6^th grade. She then finished grades 7-12^th at Stillwater High school, where she graduated in 1973. Soon after she graduated High School, she attended Indian Meridian technology where she obtained her LPN license. She worked as an LPN from 1977 – 1988. After 11 years of working as an LPN, Peggy decided to go to Tulsa Junior College to get her RN license. In 1989 she graduated from TJC with her associate degree & license as a Registered Nurse. After becoming an RN, Peggy began working at Tulsa Regional Hospital. Throughout her years as an LPN & then as an RN, she has worked for Hillcrest Hospital, Stillwater Hospital, Pawnee Hospital, Cushing Hospital, the Director of Nursing at Pawnee Care Center (now Southern Oaks) & then in 2010, she retired from Hominy Correctional Facility, after 7 years of being there. Peggy loved being a nurse. She loved taking care of people & was great at it.

Peggy was a single mother to the late Jeremiah Lee Whitteberry, who was not just her only child, but her son & the joy of her life. They loved catfishing together & although they didn’t always see eye to eye, they both loved the other dearly.

Jeremiah’s father loved Peggy & in 1985 he tried so hard to settle down with her, but Peggy didn’t desire to be married yet. However, in 1995 Peggy knew it was time & married the love of her life, Abe Duncan. They were married for 12 years & although their relationship was like fire & ice & ended in 2007, she never stopped loving him.

Peggy was a night owl & when it came to enjoying life, Peggy loved to catfish, especially all night long. She also loved to hunt, garden, travel, bake, craft, mushroom hunt & sit around a good fire talking. Peggy also had a love for animals. Throughout her life she has had pet deer, squirrels & of course weenie dogs, which was her favorite dog breed. Throughout these last 19 years, her best friend has been her weenie dog companion, Gus. Another one of her favorite past times was looking for arrowheads & if you knew Peggy, you knew she was proud of the arrowhead collection that she obtained throughout the years.

Peggy loved her family & although she only had one child, she had several nieces, nephews, & great nieces & nephews, who she loved greatly as her own. To us she was Aunt PoPo, but she was also the neighborhood mom to a lot of the Skedee kids. She was always feeding them, giving them a place to hang out or a place to stay when they needed it. Peggy loved doing things for not just her family but all those who looked to her as a mom or aunt. One of her favorite things to do was to sit & play games with them or have sleepovers at her house, which were always the best! Peggy was so much fun to be around & she was also super easy to fool, which made practical jokes with her the greatest!

Peggy was deeply loved by not just her family, but her friends. She was kind & compassionate & although she didn’t have much, she was always giving to those who were without. Her life brought joy to all that was around her.

She quietly departed from this life & stepped into her Heavenly home on Monday, January 15, 2024, at St. Francis Hospital in Tulsa, OK, at the age of 68. She was preceded in death by her maternal grandparents-Elsie & Tade Smith, paternal grandparents-John & Olla Bryant, parents-Leroy & Joyce Bryant, sister-Vickie Speece, Uncle-JE Bryant & son-Jeremiah Whitteberry.

As we gather here today, I want you to know that it is not a day to mourn her passing, but a day that we celebrate her life. She will forever be remembered, loved & missed by those she left behind, but for those of us that are saved, we will see her again. I admit our loss is great, but God is greater!