Margaret “Peggy” Doughty died on January 26, 2019 in Boston, MA, at home and under the compassionate care of her son Richie. Peggy was a loving mother and doting Nana, the beloved wife of the late Dick Doughty, the eldest daughter and kind-hearted sister of thirteen siblings, and the “Auntie Peggy” cherished by many nieces and nephews.
Peggy was born on August 24, 1924 in Cambridge, MA to Lydia and Gerald Bowe, recent immigrants from Newfoundland. While her young life was marked by poverty, she maintained that she had a happy childhood because when you had a large family “there was always someone to play with.” Younger siblings were at hand (and under foot), ready for a game of jacks or roller skating around the neighborhood. In later years she recalled the Great Depression through the eyes of a child, remembering the adventure of following the coal truck as it made deliveries and picking up stray pieces to keep her family warm. She even engaged in “poverty one-upsmanship” with her husband when they discussed the difficulty of walking to school during snowy New England winters with holes in their shoes. When Dick spoke of lining his shoes with cardboard Peggy effectively ended the conversation by declaring, “Well, at least you had cardboard to put in your shoes!”
Peggy attended Blessed Sacrament elementary school and worked hard to meet the exacting standards of the nuns who were her teachers. She left school with perfect handwriting but never did manage to produce embroidery that was was just as neat on the backside as it was on the front, an expectation that seemed unreasonable even to her. She took secretarial courses at the public high school in Cambridge and when she began working after graduation, she used a portion of her earnings to support her parents and their growing family.
Like many young women her age, Peggy was an ardent fan of Frank Sinatra in the 1940s. While some details have faded with the passage of time, a tale remains about the usually truthful Peggy calling in sick to work in order to attend a Sinatra show at the Paramount Theatre with two of her girlfriends. They daringly remained in their seats after the first performance and were thrilled to hear Frank’s second show of the day. Unfortunately for Peggy there were also reporters at the theater that afternoon. She returned to work the next day embarrassed to discover the local newspaper open on her boss’s desk and a photograph that made her front page news!
A graceful skater, Peggy met Richard “Dick” Doughty at a roller rink in Cambridge, MA. They skated and dated and married on May 20, 1950. The couple honeymooned in New York City taking in the Broadway show "Where's Charley?" starring fellow Massachusetts' native Ray Bolger. Dick sang the show's most famous song "Once in Love with Amy" throughout his life, directing its lyrics to the love of his life, Peggy. They bought a house and moved to Boston, eventually raising five children in Roslindale.
Peggy was intelligent and capable and enjoyed being a working woman, first at the government bureau then called Alcohol Tax Unit (ATU) and, after the last of her five children went off to kindergarten, the law firm of Ropes & Gray where she was a legal secretary in the estate tax department. She knew shorthand and Braille and was a speedy typist. She moved easily from the era of manual typewriters into the word processing and computer age. Working part-time most of the year and full time during tax season, Peggy was a valued employee with many friends at work and a dedication to doing her job well. Without complaint, she rose (very) early each day to throw in laundry, make school lunches, clean up the house, get her sons out of bed, and make breakfast before sending her children off to school. Only then would she take care of herself and start the long commute by bus and the elevated Orange Line train downtown to the State Street Bank building.
Traveling into the city each weekday allowed Peggy to indulge in one of her favorite activities: bargain-hunting. She was beautiful and stylish and it was all due to an untold number of trips to Filene’s Basement where the shopping competition was fierce but the reward was great. Waiting until the right moment when the price would drop on shoes, pocketbooks, dresses, and sweaters was a thrill that she couldn’t seem to resist.
The most enduring image of Peggy is one of her at home sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of tea, milk crackers, and an open book. She was a lifelong reader with the enviable ability to disappear into a good book while the chaos of a busy family, loud electric guitar practice, and a Bruins game on television vied for her attention. She murmured an affirmative “mmm-hmm” to every question posed and on occasion her teenagers tried to use this to their advantage to borrow the car and/or money. It rarely worked. As Peggy grew older and her cognitive abilities declined, her love of the written word remained. She smoothed down the pages of the Sunday NY Times throughout the week and worked her way through the battered red Novena book, a precious gift from her older brother Stanley in honor of his Jesuit ordination. On daily neighborhood walks with her son Richie or other visitors, Peggy would stop to puzzle over (and occasionally read) yard signs, license plates, and even sewer covers.
Peggy’s large family brought her great happiness and was central to her life—she made spending time with “The Bowes” a priority. She and Dick visited her mother on most Saturday evenings in Dorchester and Watertown, gathering with siblings and extended family to visit, watch hockey, and play card games like whist, poker, and nickels. There was a lot of laughter and occasionally a little money won. On summer weekends Peggy and Dick were often invited to “Uncle Pat's pool" in Acton to swim, play more cards, and watch the cousins have fun together.
Peggy and Dick traveled to England, Newfoundland, Hawaii, and took a once-in-a-lifetime train trip across Canada to the Rocky Mountains. Winters found them spending a week or more in Florida where they visited siblings and in-laws. They traveled throughout New England sharing their timeshare weeks with their children and grandchildren and Peggy's brother and sister and their spouses.
Peggy’s five children, kathleen, Francis, Richie, Jerry, and Lydia knew her to be a gentle and generous mother that loved them and their spouses unconditionally. While all babies were sure to bring a smile to her face, Peggy was especially proud of her own grandchildren, Michael, Thomas, Hannah, and Caleb. She welcomed them into the world with a warm embrace and adored them. She cared for them as babies, sat on the floor and played pretend games for hours, applauded their accomplishments, and wrote that visits from them “are the highlights of my life.” And, in return, they each loved her with all their heart.
In addition to her beloved husband the late Richard H. Doughty, Peggy leaves behind her children: Kathleen Codyrachel and her companion Michael J. Kennedy Sr. of Wolfeboro, NH; Francis Doughty and his wife Laura of Wendell; Richard J. Doughty of Roslindale; Gerald T. Doughty and his wife Patricia of Winchester, NH; and Lydia and her husband Robert Harris of Belmont. Devoted Nana of Michael, Thomas, Hannah, and Caleb. Peggy was pre-deceased by seven brothers Stanley, Gerald, William, Phillip, Patrick, Joseph, and John, and two sisters Georgie Martin and Carole Robar. She is survived by her brothers Donald, Richard and Robert Bowe and her sister Mary Corliss. She will be missed by numerous nieces and nephews.
A Funeral Mass will be celebrated in the Holy Name Church, 1689 Centre St., West Roxbury, on Saturday, February 2, 2019 at 1:00 pm. Relatives and friends are invited to attend. Following the funeral Mass Peggy’s family invites all to continue to celebrate and remember her life at the Robert J. Lawler and Crosby Funeral Home, 1803 Centre St., West Roxbury, from 2:00 to 5:00 pm.
Donations may be made in Peggy’s name to the Alzheimer's Association www.alz.org 225 N. Michigan Ave., Fl. 17, Chicago, IL 60601
Lawler and Crosby Funeral Home
www.lawlerfuneralhome.com
617-323-5600