Margaret McNaughton (Peggy) Black, 89, passed away May 5, 2016. Visitation will be Monday, May 9, from 1:30-3:30 p.m. at Williams Funeral Home in Florence, Alabama. Her memorial service will follow at 3:30 p.m. in the funeral home chapel. The burial service will be at Oakwood Cemetery, Tuscumbia, Alabama.
Peggy was born in Sharon, Massachusetts, on March 8, 1927, to David and Mary Weir. Her mother was from Scotland. Later, the family moved to Providence, Rhode Island, where she graduated from Central High School in 1945. Upon graduation, she began her career as a legal secretary.
In 1950, she met a former U.S. Navy sailor, James P. Black, from Tuscumbia, Alabama, who worked as a cobbler at the Quonset Point Naval Air Station. He had a car and she had $400. They were married on April 28, 1951.
After giving life to their three children in Cranston, Rhode Island, they moved to Warwick, Rhode Island. In 1967, they moved to Muscle Shoals, Alabama, where she began working as a secretary at TVA in the Fundamental Research Division and retired in 1988.
Upon retirement, Peggy volunteered for over 15 years at Shoals Hospital. She was a member of the Highland Park Garden Club. Many children will remember her as Mrs. Claus, especially in the annual Muscle Shoals Christmas Parade.
She was a member of the College View Church of Christ, where she taught children’s Bible classes, as she had for churches in Rhode Island and Muscle Shoals. She read the Bible each night before she went to bed and prayed daily. Like her husband, she cared deeply about the souls of others.
Most of all, she loved her family. She devoted her entire life to cooking meals, cleaning house, washing clothes (hanging clothes outside for over 50 years to save money), nursing their wounds, comforting them in sorrow and rejoicing with them. She worked so her husband and children, all teachers, could earn their bachelors and advanced degrees.
But most importantly, she taught godliness, faith, virtues, honesty, frugality, simplicity, goodness, sweetness, kindness, gentleness, generosity, brotherly love and humility. As God gave meaning and purpose to her, she returned His blessings with the richness and fullness of her life, always preferring others to self.
Peggy was preceded in death by her husband, James P. Black; and her sister, Mary Adams, Warwick, RI; as well as numerous brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law.
Peggy is survived by her children, Debbie Black, Muscle Shoals, Alabama, Becky Whitlock and her husband Cecil, Decatur, Alabama, and David L. Black, Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Her grandsons are Jeffrey Whitlock (Camille), Nashville, and Brian Whitlock, Charlotte, North Carolina; and great-grandchildren, Allison Whitlock and Lydia Whitlock; her brother-in-law, Joe Black, Auburn, Alabama; and sister-in-law, Christine Kirchner, Muscle Shoals, Alabama, survive her, as well. She has relatives in Scotland, England, New England, California, all across the southeast, and stretching from Iuka, Mississippi, to Athens, Alabama.
Pallbearers will be Jimmy Black, Bob Black, Ray McDonald, Harry Cooper, Jeffrey Whitlock and Brian Whitlock. Honorary pallbearers are Richard Sheridan, Dr. Jack McLendon, Frank Richey, John Brown, Mark Ray, Claude Eubanks, Richard Davis and Ed Dill.
The family is grateful to her caregivers during the past 16 months: Nancy, Jackie, Jan, Jennifer, Delores, Glendora, Katherine, Vivian, Stacy and Sue.
Later, a scholarship fund will be established in her honor at the University of North Alabama.
