IDELLA PEGGY (YORK) LOVE

Across the Fence

By Arvord Abernethy

I became well acquainted with Rodney Love when he was teaching here in high school and our children were in school. We met recently when I was downtown and we had a nice talk. During the conversation he asked me if I had ever met his “little Mother”. I had not, but pretty soon a spry little lady walked up and he introduced me to his mother. 

I was so impressed by the energy and alertness of this 96 year old lady. I knew that I must learn more of this Mrs. Peggy Love. 

Idelle (Peggy) York was born in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in northeast Alabama, 15 miles from any town. She took on a nickname early in life, as did the other five children in the family. Her memory takes her back to the times, as a young girl. They would take that once a year wagon trip to town. They would buy salt and sugar by the barrel and distribute some of to the neighbors. 

She asked me to guess as to where she wanted to go as soon as they arrived in town. I guess an ice cream parlor, but she said that it was the depot to see a train as trains always fascinated her. She said many of the old people out in the mountains had never seen a train. 

When the six children all reached school age, their father built a home in Athens, Alabama, and they would move to town during the school term and back to the farm in the summer. 

Most of their schooling prior to this time had been by their parents in the home. The scars of the Civil War had not completely healed when Peggy’s parents were children. Most of the teachers during the Reconstruction Days were from the north, and due to some incidents during the war, people held little respect for the Yankees. The Yorks had been deprived of the education they desired, so were very anxious to see that their children received one. 

The Yorks moved to Honey Grove, Texas, in 1904, and there is where Peggy finished her public schooling. She then attended North Texas Teachers College where she received a teacher’s certificate. 

She began her 48 years of teaching as a young schoolmarm with the DeSoto school in Dallas County. An interesting thing about her teaching at DeSoto was that the superintendent was Mr. R. C. Love, whom she was to marry some years later. 

Mrs. Love likes to think of the young children she started off in school as her children. One of them at DeSoto was a boy by the name of Don Morris, who later became president of Abilene Christian College, which is now Abilene Christian University. She showed me a poem written by a lady who was once her pupil. It was a beautiful Christian poem concerning the Three Wise Men and Jesus. Mrs. Love mentioned the fact that this girl’s father deserted her mother and a house full of children, leaving them in very destitute circumstances. The lady gives Mrs. Love credit for inspiring her as a young pupil. 

Her next teaching experience was in a one room school out in West Texas. It was called Cactus Flat and was even beyond the jumping off place at that time. There were no towns near, so social life was very bare. She remembers a rancher loaning her and the teacher from another school his horse and buggy so they could drive the 35 miles to Aspermont for a teachers’ meeting during the Christmas holidays. 

Peggy returned to North Texas and began teaching in Greenville. After her marriage to Mr. Love, they lived on their farm near Roanoke in Denton County until Mr. Love’s death in 1963. 

After Mr. Love’s passing, she moved to a retirement complex in Denton, but it was far from retirement for Mrs. Love. The retirement home had an activity room and an RSVP program going, so she found much to keep her busy. One day a week they would make dressings for cancer patients. They would also address envelopes for public organizations that had a mail out. 

One activity that took a lot of time was a pre-school project. They would fix breakfast for many of the youngsters and then dinner for all of them. During the day they would teach these children games, songs and other things that would prepare them for schooling. During these years, she also worked in the emergency food room at the courthouse. This was for people on welfare and food stamps. 

When Mrs. Love was 93 years old, she was asked to speak at the Denton United Way Kick-off Luncheon. The person who introduced her mentioned her age, so she immediately jotted down this little poem which I think is cute. 

“93’s a ripe old age”, 
So said an ancient sage; 
I know what I’ll do 
About this time of mine, 
I’ll reverse the digits 
And make me 39. 

To add to all the activity while living in Denton, Mrs. Love had been taking some courses at North Texas State University and also Texas Women’s University. 

As I visited there in her home, which she keeps herself, I noticed many books and magazines which indicated that she was still a busy reader. But I didn’t see any rocking chair for her to while away the hours in. I asked her what she attributed her long and fruitful life to and she said one of the main things she did was to keep her mind busy. She has never stopped reading and studying. 

I noticed another thing about her long and interesting life that she did not mention. From the beginning of her teaching days to the very present, she has been concerned in helping others. There were two pieces of material there on the sofa; she is making one into a cape and the other into a robe for the “old folks” in the rest homes. 

Her opportunity to worship both through the Sunday school and the worship services has been a strength to her. She attends the United Methodist Church. 

This has been a little of the life of the same Peggy Love who called me right back after I had made an appointment with her and said, “Mr. Abernethy, I don’t know of anything unusual I have done in my life that would be of interest to anyone”. I’m glad I didn’t let her talk me out of the visit. Mrs. Love is truly a great example of one growing lovely growing old.

 Shared by Roy Ables

 ACROSS THE FENCE 

LOVE, RODNEY COLVILLE