Peggy Jean Doyen

CONCORDIA - Peggy Jean Doyen, 91, of Concordia died February 4, 2015. She was born December 27, 1923, to Lela Irene (Leroux) Block and George Edgar Block. She was the oldest of three sisters. She married Lee Warren Doyen on July 26, 1947. They had three children.
Peggy grew up on a farm outside Preston, Kansas. She attended Preston schools and graduated from Preston High School as valedictorian in 1942. She graduated from Kansas State Teacher's College, Emporia, Kansas (now Emporia State University), in 1946. She participated in Winnetaska living group and was the homecoming queen her senior year.
After graduation from college, Peggy's first teaching job was with Mulvane High School in Mulvane, Kansas. That is where she met Lee, who was also a high school teacher. Peggy and Lee regularly attended reunions for the classes they taught in Mulvane until a few years ago.
Peggy's teaching areas were English and speech and theater. Her other teaching positions were with Beloit High School and Cloud County Community College, where she was a member of the original faculty. She earned her master's degree from Kansas State University and wrote her thesis about the "History of Theater in Concordia" that helped when Concordia put the Brown Grand Theater on the national register of historic places and renovated the theater. She founded the drama department at the community college and was honored in 2011 as the first winner of the Marian D. Cook Legacy Award established by the community college humanities division.
Through the years, Peggy served as Camp Fire Girls leader, Cub Scout leader, taught Sunday school classes, and served as church youth group leader. She held leadership positions in the local chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma, international society for women educators, and then served the organization as state president, and she served local offices in Kansas Chapter AV of P.E.O. sisterhood. She served her community through church circle, the local library board, and the Brown Grand Theater board of directors. She was a member of Order of the Eastern Star, American Legion Auxiliary, and the First United Methodist Church.
She is survived by daughter Ann and husband, Donn Walters, of Dallas, Texas; daughter Carol and husband, Floyd Hockersmith, of Manhattan; and son Kent and wife, Julie Doyen, of Riley. She has five grandchildren: Hal Hockersmith, Deshler, Neb.; Van Hockersmith and wife, Qiana, Venice Fla.; Sarah Walters, Dallas, Texas; Grant Doyen and fiancAC.e, Eugenia Frey, Riley; and Kurt Doyen, Riley, and two great-grandchildren. She is survived by her brothers-in-law Ray Doyen and wife, Peggy, Concordia; and Mark Doyen and wife, Marjorie, Bartlesville, Okla.; and a sister-in-law Katherine Doyen, wife of deceased brother-in-law Ross. She has seven nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her parents, her sisters Rosemary Block Welch and Joan Gail Smith, and her husband of 65 years, Lee, who died in 2013.
Visitation will be Friday, Feb. 6, from 10:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m. with the family receiving guests at 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. at Nutter Mortuary, 116 E. 6th St., Concordia. The funeral service will be Saturday Feb. 7, at 1:00 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church, 740 W. 11 St. Concordia, Pastor Tessa Zehring officiating, with graveside service at the Rice Cemetery. The family suggests memorials to the Brown Grand Theatre and Cloud County Community College Foundation. To leave online condolences please visit nuttermortuary@yahoo.com.