Margaret Eloise Ladenberger's Obituary
Ladenberger, Margaret (Peggy) Echols
Peggy Ladenberger passed away peacefully at home on July 26, 2020 at the age of 94.
Born in Dallas in 1925, Peggy graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1941. She completed a degree in English from Washington University in St. Louis, MO where in 1945 she met and married Charles C (Lade) Ladenberger of St. Louis. Peggy and Lade settled in Dallas and raised three daughters. She received her doctorate in guidance and counseling from the University of North Texas in 1968 and retained a strong and continuing association with the University throughout her life. She participated in the founding of Suicide Prevention of Dallas in 1967. As her daughters left home, she simultaneously focused on her psychology practice, co-authored a weekly column on parenting in the Dallas Morning News and taught a weekly class at SMU’s School of Continuing Education on women’s empowerment.
Her hobbies included flying airplanes with her husband (she was proud of having attained her twin-engine and instrument ratings). She jitterbugged with other chaperones at White Rock hot spots of the Big Thicket, the Dreyfus Club and Winfrey Point for her daughters’ birthday parties. She liked to hike in the Santa Fe National Forest in New Mexico and to work the New York Times crossword puzzle on Sundays.
Preceded in death by her husband Lade, Peggy is survived by brothers Marc Simmons and Hal Simmons of Albuquerque, NM; daughters, Jan Person and husband, John, of Dallas, TX; Susan Garza of Richardson, TX; Judy Burnett and husband, Bill of Dallas, TX; grandchildren, Todd Praisner of Austin, TX; Mia Mosher of Atherton, CA; Karla Dickenson of Murphy, TX; Jordan Cappetta of Dallas, TX; Will Burnett of Austin, TX; and 13 great-grandchildren.
Peggy had a lifelong passion for mental health care and educational opportunity.
In memory of Peggy, donations may be made to the Communities Foundation of Texas, Ladenberger Family Fund which she and Lade created to support their passion for helping underserved Dallas Communities. They can be reached at: Ladenberger Family Fund for Mental Health and Education, Communities Foundation of Texas, 5500 Caruth Haven Lane, Dallas, TX, 75225, 214-750-4222 or online at CFTexas.org/LadenbergerFamilyFund.
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