March 10, 1930 ~ June 21, 2026
Peggy Collins, slipped away in her sleep on Sunday morning, June 21, 2026. She was 96 years old, at home with family members close by. Her funeral service will be Tuesday, June 30, 1:00PM, at the Stumpff Funeral Home Chapel, with officiant Chad Perceful. Peggy asked that those who gather together to celebrate her life will do so in bright, happy colors.
She was born Margaret Louise Chew in a near blizzard snow storm, March 10, 1930, on Chimney Rock Hill in Osage County, Oklahoma. She was welcomed by her parents, Wilda Elizabeth (Cary) Chew and Oliver Delmer Chew, as well as big brother, Robert. The family was later joined by two more sisters, Betty (G) and Dell Ora (Toots).
In 1933, diphtheria was highly contagious and had a mortality rate of about 20% for children under five. Peggy was three. Treatment often began with isolating the sick child as much as possible within a family home. Patients were also given a regimen of antitoxin injections, through large bore needles, regardless of age. Peggy’s course of treatment included daily doctor’s house calls to administer those shots of antitoxin into her back for about 20 consecutive days. Her lifelong terror of needles was thought an irrational phobia by some, but those who knew of her three-year-old diphtheria illness realized how logical and rational her fear was.
By the time she was four she was beginning to read and write. The grades 1 through 4 teacher told Peggy’s parents she was ready to begin school in the fall. Mr. and Mrs. Chew decided to wait one more year. As a result, at age five, she headed off to the two-room Butler Creek School with her aunt, Delma Lee, Wilda’s youngest sister, just 9 and a ½ months older than Peggy, and very much a third sister. Peggy was a life long learner and a life long lover of learning. By the time she got to high school, she was well on her way to the full and busy life she felt privileged to enjoy. A 1947 graduate of Dewey High School, she was a trombonist in the band and also in an organization called the Larriettes, which was described as the Pep Club Marching Spirit Group. Her family has never known how she managed to be in the Larriettes and the band at the same time, but they still hope to find out one day. She was in Glee Club, on the Junior Play staff, the Yearbook staff and also served as Yearbook Features Editor. Peggy was a Student Council Representative and, as a Senior, served as Student Council President. She was in the Trades and Industrial Education Club and was on the Honor Roll throughout her school years. She received a number of scholastic honors during high school, including a Danforth Award. A class called Diversified Occupations gave her course credit for her after school job as the chairside assistant to dentist, Dr. John G Gerard, in downtown Dewey.
After high school graduation, Peggy went to work as a secretary at Cities Service Company in Bartlesville, where she worked until April, 1954. In 1951, she met Dean Collins on a blind date, not long after he came to Bartlesville with his Texas A&M degree in Chemical Engineering. They dated for several months, until Dean was called for his tour of duty in the Korean Conflict. He wrote to her frequently and shortly after he returned to Bartlesville he asked her to marry him. After she said yes, he presented her with a beautiful service for 12 set of porcelain dinnerware he’d purchased on leave in Japan with the specific goal of making it his engagement gift to her.
Peggy Chew married Dean Collins on Friday, November 13, 1953. It rained all morning but, by the time of their afternoon wedding, the rain had stopped and the sidewalks were dry. And so, a whole new chapter of life began. Daughter Carol came along in 1954, followed by son Bill in 1956 and son JT in 1958. Peggy kept busy with the children and, in November 1959, Phillips sent Dean to work at the refinery in Sweeny, Texas. The family enjoyed many adventures together and took a vacation every summer to someplace interesting. During the six years in Texas, Peggy was able to renew several friendships with women she’d known earlier in Bartlesville. She found many new friendships, as well, most of which were of the quality that they lasted the rest of their lives. She took a few classes in a variety of subjects at Wharton Junior College. She also found some ceramics classes and during the next several years made a few nativity sets as well as numerous Santa and snowman Christmas tree ornaments. She pursued a long time interest in genealogy and thoroughly enjoyed the process of exploring, building, and working through her family trees. The children took tap and ballet classes and when Carol was old enough for Brownie Scouts, Peggy signed on as troop leader. She continued as leader of Carol’s troop in Junior Girl Scouts until the family moved back to Bartlesville in January 1966. She kept herself busy all her life.
Not long after their return, Peggy and Dean bought the house next door to her parents, the same one they’d lived in before the move south, so it really felt like being “home again” for their family. One day Peggy got a phone call from her old Dewey High classmate, pharmacist Paul Gunter, asking her if she could come to work as bookkeeper at his drugstore downtown. She didn’t have job experience as a bookkeeper, but he told her he was confident she’d learn his books quickly and give him peace of mind until he found someone as trustworthy as she was. He was right on both accounts and suddenly Peggy was back in the out-of-home workforce. After a short time at Gunter Rexall, she worked for the Bartlesville Chamber of Commerce. She continued her membership in Beta Sigma Phi sorority, which she had joined in her early 20s. She joined Gushers Toastmistress Club in 1967 and became active in Belles of Ireland garden club, Tuesday Club, Wordweavers Writers Club, Bartlesville Pilot Club, and several other organizations in the area.
After her three children had graduated from College High School and gone off to OU, and after her move fulltime to Holliman, Maddux, Pierce, and Boone Law Offices, Peggy became more active in Gushers and in Toastmistress International, later International Training and Communications (ITC). She enjoyed participating in speech contests and began serving in club leadership and officers’ positions. She and Dean enjoyed attending many ITC annual conventions all over the United States and a few overseas, as well. Those trips helped her achieve her goal of visiting all 50 states and seeing most of their capitols.
Membership in ITC increased some of Peggy’s inherent talents and interests. She presented workshops at several international conventions, and assisted in workshops with other featured presenters. She served on the ITC Public Relations Committee and edited a bulletin entitled “Ideas That Work.” She authored and published a two volume collection of joke and humorous anecdotes aimed for use by public speakers. Peggy also wrote and illustrated a booklet named “Having Fun at Convention” for the ITC Convention held in Washington, DC. The ITC magazine published several of her articles and poems through the years. One of the officer commitments she made was as 1976-77 President of the Texhoma Region of ITC. Her family was definitely impressed when they learned the Texhoma Region was comprised of 10 councils, consisting of 101 clubs spread over Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico, and the country of Mexico.
Peggy’s membership in Beta Sigma Phi continued and as a Life Member, she achieved the Preceptor Degree and was awarded the Order of the Rose. Local organizations often invited her to give programs and book reviews, usually on humorous publications, but also on the subjects of professional comportment, Robert’s Rules of Order, and even face reading and body language. She taught Creative Writing classes at the YWCA and taught an adult learning course at Tri County Tech on Legal Office Procedures. She made presentations at area high schools in their Family Living classes and provided assistance to many students with assignments concerning wills, divorce, employment contracts, and more. For quite a few years she judged the annual American Legion Oratorical contest and numerous 4-H Speech Contests. She was guest keynote speaker when the Dewey Chapter of Futures Homemakers of America hosted 12 area schools for an all day Leadership Training Conference. Her address to the FHA leadership participants was entitled, “A Leader’s Role: Selling Yourself as a Leader.”
After her retirement as a fulltime legal secretary, she and Verna Trepka formed Treasure Tours, through which they focused on guiding groups large and small to see and learn about many of the treasures to be found in the four corners area of NE Oklahoma, SE Kansas, SW Missouri, and NW Arkansas. Peggy and Verna offered curated travel and visits to experiences ranging from a day of antiquing in Dewey or Blackwell, overnight visits to Yellow Brick Road Days (in Kansas, of course), trips to the horse races in Oklahoma City, outings to alpaca farms, and to amazing meals, prepared and served along with historic and cultural awareness, in the homes of several area Mennonite families.
Peggy received numerous awards and presentations in thanks through the years, including Honorary Citizen of the State of Texas, Honorary Citizen of the City of Lawton, Honorary Deputy Sheriff of Tarrant County, Texas, and Good Will Ambassador for the State of Oklahoma. If you ran into Peggy, whether out and about in the Bartlesville area or simply sitting briefly somewhere, you would most likely see her lap covered with her latest crochet or knitting project. She crocheted prayer shawls and afghans for people recovering from illnesses or surgeries, those who were alone during a stressful time in their lives, or for a family member or friend needing emotional support to get through a rough time. Over the last 10 years or so, she completed close to 100 afghans and lap robes, close to double that number of baby hats, around 20 to 25 baby blankets, and about 12-15 muffler and hat pairings. Between 1988 and 2009, she knitted dozens of pairs of socks for her son-in-law, who had size 17AAA feet and needed extra thick dress socks when only a 17A or B width shoe was available.
Peggy was predeceased by her parents, husband, Dean, brother Robert Chew, sister Dell Ora Micue, nieces Beth Chew and Nita Micue, nephew Lee Werts, special aunt Delma Lee Pryce, and son-in-law Mark Hoxsie. She is survived by her sister Betty Werts, daughter Carol Collins, son William Collins II and his wife Dr. Kristin Julian, son James Collins and his wife Judith Vidito Collins, grandchildren Garrett Vidito, Dr. Andrew Collins, James Hoxsie, Sarah Hoxsie, Carrie Ellyn Hoxsie, honorary granddaughter Becca Bonner-Tumlinson, and four great granddaughters, Piper, Farrah, Jillian, and Gia Vidito. She is also survived by seven nieces and nephews, 23 great nieces and nephews and 21 great-great nieces and nephews along with quite a few first and many second cousins.
Peggy was an author, a humorist, poet, wife, mother, granddaughter, daughter, sister, aunt, teacher, legal secretary, and well loved bon vivant. She gave generously of her time and money, often anonymously. She answered to many names: Peg, Peggy Lou, Tad, Taddy Lou, Ted, Aunt Ted, Aunt Peggy, Mother, Sis and, to Dean, Peg O’My Heart. She loved her family well, as they loved her. She was both a perfectionist and an optimist, who carried a deep faith in the inherent goodness of people. She believed to whom much is given, of whom is much required, that many have been given more than they realize, and that we all have opportunities to give of ourselves in service to others. Peggy would be proud to have that be her legacy to all who knew and loved her.
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