Margaret Ann “Peggy” (Pratt) Wheeler

July 1, 1914 – July 23, 2003

Peggy Wheeler, a long-time resident of her beloved Colorado Springs, died on July 23, 2003 of natural causes. Peggy was born in Kingfisher, OK, on July 1, 1914, the oldest of eight children of Floyd William and Clarice Robinson Pratt. She grew up in many towns in Oklahoma – Waukomis, Wheeling, Enid, Sentinel, Stillwater, Kingfisher, Tulsa, Perry – where her father taught secondary school. Her grandfather, Samuel Fulton Robinson, made the Oklahoma Land Run, and as a child Peggy played on his farm near Kingfisher within sight of the buffalo wallows along the old Chisolm Trail. She was twice bitten by mad dogs and had to have rabies shots.

Peggy obtained her bachelor’s degree in 1924 from Oklahoma State University and had jobs as, among other things, a newspaper journalist and medical technician. While working for the local paper in Perry, she interviewed a man who claimed to be Jesse James. In 1941 she married G.L. Winters Wheeler, then of Oklahoma City. They spent the war years in Los Angeles area, then lived in Colorado (Woodland Park and Boulder), Idaho, Pennsylvania and Texas, before retiring and moving to the Colorado Springs area in 1973.

Peggy spent this time raising her family, remodeling houses and indulging her life long love of reading mystery novels and anything else she could get her hands on. In retirement, Peggy and G.L. built a house near Calhan and, with their daughter, another on Arnold Lane in Old Colorado City where Peggy had lived since 1984.

Peggy is survived by her son, Prof. J. Craig Wheeler and his wife, Shree, of Austin, Texas, her daughter, Catherine Ann Wheeler of Colorado Springs, and four grandchildren, Dr. Diek Winters Wheeler of Pittsburgh, PA, J. Robinson Wheeler of Austin and Jon Orr and Katie Orr of Colorado Springs.

A remembrance celebration will be held at 621 Arnold Lane at 3:00 p.m., on Sunday, July 27, 2003.