Peggy Carolyn Thorsen

Peggy was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota to Fred and Josephine Lindquist Brown on Jan. 19, 1921. She went to Portview school in Pequot Lakes and high school at Washington High in Brainerd. After high school she worked as a clerk at S.H. Clauson in Minneapolis. During WWII she worked at Northern Pump doing defense work, then she was an inspector of .55 mm shells at Northern Can.

She married William George Thorsen in Minneapolis in 1943. When Bill came home from WWII, they moved to Texas where he got a geology degree at the University of Houston. They had two children, Linda Jo and Daniel Frederick Thorsen.

In Midland, Peggy worked at Peyton’s Toys, then in the library at Robert E. Lee High School. After that, she was a library clerk at Midland County Library for 20 years. She was a charter member of the Midland Archeological Society and was a member of the auxiliary of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association. The whole family was active in Midland’s St. Mark’s United Methodist Church.

Peggy’s time in the Red Cross in WWII was featured as the main character in the musical Home Fires that her daughter wrote. Peggy and a large group of friends got to see it performed off-Broadway in New York City.

In 2009, she moved to Nacogdoches to be with her daughter and son-in-law. She had a booth, Peggy’s Elderly Things, in Wildflower Antiques downtown and was involved with First United Methodist Church of Nacogdoches. She appeared in several historical plays at the Old University Building and was the inspiration for the main character in her daughter’s historical novel, “Saving the Oldest Town in Texas.”

In 2016, she moved with her family to Longmont, Colorado. In 2018, the family all moved back to Texas to live in San Angelo. She was a member of Sierra Vista United Methodist Church and the San Angelo Archeological Society. Her love of Native American art and culture was fueled by her incredible ability to find surface artifacts, especially arrowheads and scrapers. In 2020 she donated her collection of native American artifacts to Fort Concho. She wrote many little books for her grandchildren. One of her books, “The Boy from Norway,” was her inspiration to start a writing contest, “Finding Family” with the San Angelo Writer’s Club and the Genealogical Society.

Peggy was preceded in death by her parents, her husband and her son. She is survived by her daughter Linda (spouse Bruce Partain), her grandsons, Shelby Brennan Bond and Daniel Blake Partain (spouse Andrea Fryrear), her granddaughter Emily Jo Thorsen and great-grandchildren Brennan William Partain and Caroline Pearl Partain.

She estimated that she raised more than 20 dogs over the course of her lifetime. For the last ten years, she had two Peekapoo dogs, Tom and Jerry. She was always very hopeful that dogs go to heaven.

A graveside service is Monday, Dec. 20 at 11 a.m. at Resthaven Memorial Park in Midland.

Memorials can be given to Sierra Vista Methodist Church of San Angelo, First United Methodist Church of Nacogdoches, St. Mark’s Methodist Church of Midland or any local library.