Margaret J. Pourrezai's Obituary
Margaret Joan “Peggy” Fennell-Pourrezai passed from this life on May 22, 2024, at the age of 70, after battling with complications from pancreatic cancer, in Rowlett, Texas.
Peggy was born the fifth of eight children to James M. Fennell, Sr. and Genevieve (née Brady) on August 25, 1953, at Southwestern Hospital in El Paso, Texas. She moved with her family to their new home in Farmers Branch in 1963, when she was nine years old. While there she attended Mary Immaculate Catholic School and R. L. Turner High School, graduating in 1971. Her mother used to say she was frequently the one taking the longest in the mornings getting ready for school, spending extra time in front of the mirror grooming and applying makeup. One nephew said she was intelligent and could solve a Rubix Cube in a matter of minutes. She was close with her sisters (she had five), frequently getting into shenanigans with most of them in her youth. Another one of her nieces has described her as the “most creative and artistic of all the aunts.” She loved to sew, to paint, to color, and enjoyed music, from church hymns to classic rock.
In her early twenties, Peggy was diagnosed with schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder, which affected the course of her life. Despite the hardships she faced she always prayed her rosary and kept faith close. She was generous and compassionate, had a sense of humor, lit up when anyone visited her, kept her life organized in her own way, and kept her family and her children close to her heart, even if she didn’t get the chance to raise them herself.
She met her late husband, Youssef M. Pourrezai, a waiter and cab driver originally from Iran, in Farmers Branch, sometime around the turn of the eighties decade while she was working at a gas station/convenience store. He would regularly stop in and strike up conversations with her, and the rest was history. Eventually they had a family together until his untimely death in 1990.
She is survived by their four natural children: Matthew Fennell (wife Lauren), Richard Fennell, Solmas Record (husband John), and Ellie Dixon; and her grandchildren, London Mincey and William Fennell. She is also survived by her siblings: James M. Fennell, Jr., Mary Kay Dennis, Maureen Covington (husband Kirby), Rita Dixon, David Fennell (wife Luisa), and Catherine Stuart (husband Barry), and numerous nieces and nephews. She is preceded in death by her parents, her husband, her sister Carol Eddy, and sister-in-law Zuzanna Fennell.
Her parents, her siblings, her children—her whole family—has all helped her in some way throughout her life, whether large or small. And even the smallest of gestures wasn’t really small in the end. But perhaps the greatest blessing of all to her was made through the generosity of her parents and siblings in opening their hearts to taking her children in and raising them. Their collective prayer is that she was blessed and enriched by all the various means of support over the decades, and that she can now be free and truly herself, and at a newfound peace she may not have experienced in her earthly life.
The visitation and funeral service will be held on Thursday, May 30, 2024, at Restland Funeral Home in Dallas. Arrangements have been made with them and interment will be held at Restland Cemetery shortly afterward.
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