The Patrick & Sherry Hayes Laughrey Familes:Information about Mary Margaret {Peggy} Jones
Mary Margaret {Peggy} Jones (b. May 29, 1928, d. February 20, 1999)
Notes for Mary Margaret {Peggy} Jones:
Nursing instructor made learning fun
Mary M. "Peggy" Hart was a "funny" presence in the classrooms at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and it made her one of the most popular nursing instructors and one of the best.
"She made learning fun," said Virginia Szwarc of Latrobe, one of her close friends and a peer at IUP."Her greatest gift was that she could make the complex seem simple, and she could always reach the kids who didn't seem like they wanted to learn.She was a tough teacher, but the kids loved her."
Hart, 70, of Ligonier RD2, died Saturday after a lingering illness and a lifetime devoted to all those kids to whom she was an influential role model.For Hart, it was a devotion that began in her home.
A single mother, she adopted four children and helped raise 15 foster children.She had also been active with the Girl Scouts as a camp counselor and had retired from the U.S. Air Force with the rank of major.
"She was a wonderful, very giving woman whose whole life centered around children," said her daughter Maryanne Perry of Youngstown, whom she adopted in 1969."She also adopted my two brothers (David Michael Hart of Ligonier RD2 as an infant and Mark Michael Hart of Akron, Ohio, when he was 6) and sister (Clare Marie "Cissy" Hart, who died in 1997).We are biracial, and she always told us that we should not worry what other people think of us as individuals and that it was very important that we felt good about ourselves."
Perry said "it was a busy household" and not just because of the foster children."She was also active with Action for Animals, and many times a stray would show up.Once, I remember, we had horses, cows, and goats, too.It was a great house, kind of like having a big sleepover all the time.When my friends would stay over, it was like a vacation for them.Mom would entertain them with some singing, and in the morning there would be a great breakfast."
Perry said her mother "particularly liked Irish music, and she would traditionally do a jig for us on St. Patrick's Day."
Hart was employed as a teacher at IUP for 25 years, retiring in 1990; was the first professor hired to teach a baccalaureate in nursing; and was awarded the title of professor emeritus.
"I found a letter a student had written to Mom," Perry said."The writer described her as an instructor who brought laughter into the classroom and used it ti motivate students.She made students comfortable, and that made the learning easier."
Szwarc said Hart helped Marian Murray (the department's dean) write the curriculum for the nursing program at IUP.
"I was younger than she," said the recently retired Szwarc."She helped me a lot.She helped a lot of kids.She was tough and the students knew they had to do the work, but she was a natural as a teacher. She certainly left her mark at IUP."
Perry remembers her mother had this advice about the dawn of a new day: "She told us that we should not awake and say 'Good God, it's morning,' but rather say 'It's a good morning, God.'I don't know that I ever really knew why she took in these kids or those animals.I just know her life was full of children, and she would have never wanted it any other way."
In addition to her children, Hart, born May 29, 1928 in Greensburg, is survived by two granddaughters, Jordan and Gabriella Perry, one grandson, Devin Hart, and a sister, Joan Steele of Albuquerque, N.M.
Friends will be received from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. today at the J. Paul McCracken Funeral Home, 144 E. Main St., Ligonier.A Funeral Mass will be celebrated Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. in Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Youngstown.
Family requests memorial gifts to the Devin Hart College Fund, P.O. Box 624, Youngstown, PA15696.
Tribune Review
Tuesday
Feb 23, 1999
More About Mary Margaret {Peggy} Jones:
Fact 1: 1949, Graduated from Mercy Hospital.
Fact 2: 1959, Graduated from Pitt School of Nursing.
Fact 3: 1990, Retired from Indiana University.
More About Mary Margaret {Peggy} Jones and Richard E. Hart:
Private-Begin: Private
Children of Mary Margaret {Peggy} Jones are:
- +Maryanne Hart.
- David Michael Hart.
- Mark Michael Hart.
- +Clare Marie {Sissy} Hart, b. July 11, 1974, Pittsburgh, PA, d. 1997, Latrobe, PA.