Mrs. Peggy Cullen Hanley

On Friday, January 23, 2015, Peggy C. Hanley, 83 years old, quietly passed away due to complications of a long battle with pneumonia and non-smokers COPD, surrounded by her family and all the love they could generate. Peggy was born November 3, 1931 to William and Hortense Cullen, in LaPlata, MO, the oldest of three daughters. From an early age, she loved music and sports (basketball) and participated in both through grade school, high school and college. While attending college she participated in the community drama theatre, where she met another participant and the love of her life, John Hanley, who was stationed at a nearby Air Force Base. Their romance quickly bloomed and they married shortly after they met and started on a life-journey that included four children and multiple moves around the Midwest when John’s career required relocation. Peggy often took on the role of both homemaker and disciplinarian, not a normal role for the times and often took part time work at school to stay in touch with her kids’ lives. Along with her husband, they were very hands on parents, something their children appreciate far more today than back then. Then, when John started his own company in 1971, they decided to move to the Atlanta area to a small suburb community called Brookfield West in 1972 and remained in the Roswell/Alpharetta area. Peggy was a loving, fun woman with a keen sense of humor, style and a great love for her family and friends. She and her husband played golf and tennis together and remained connected to both families with long road trips to Minnesota, Illinois and Missouri over the years. They were great role models for their children and after John died suddenly in 1980 Peggy continued to stay close to her kids and their lives, while rebuilding her own. She continued to play tennis, worked full time as an office manager, joined Roswell United Methodist Church in 1989 with her two Atlanta based children and joined the choir, where she made life-long friends and traveled to Europe three different times to sing with the choir. Peggy also made endless trips back and forth to Hilton Head where her youngest daughter and her family lived with two of her six Grandchildren. In 1993, she was the victim of a violent ATM attack, after which she moved in with her oldest daughter and her husband in Alpharetta. She was never able to play tennis or the piano again, but continued to stay involved with the church, the choir, her friends, kids and grandkids, right up to the day she died. She and her daughter Jean spent many years with the RUMC Choir and Peggy rebuilt her life, again, around her love for music, faith, family and friends. She also became more involved with animal rescue and found great comfort and unconditional love from them - helping rescue and place many deserving dogs over the last 10 years. Two of her favorites were actually with Peggy when she passed and it was clear they brought her comfort as she made her final journey Home. Peggy did not have a trouble free life, but met every challenge with unbelievable strength and was a true fighter. She always kept her sense of humor and made every day look easy. Peggy suffered many health setbacks in the last three years and her family is comforted by the knowledge she is no longer suffering and is celebrating in our Lord’s Kingdom. She was an awesome daughter, sister, wife, aunt, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. She had made life-long friends and was loved by many. She will be greatly missed by all who knew her. Peggy did not want a funeral, and will be interred at Arlington Memorial Park in Sandy Springs, where she will finally be reunited with her beloved husband after 35 years. She is preceded in death by both her parents William and Hortense Cullen, her step-father, Paul Moots and her youngest sister, Mary Lynn McElhinney, all of LaPlata, MO; her husband, John Hanley, Jr of Roswell, GA and her oldest son Michael C. Hanley of Fort Walton Beach, FL. She is survived by her sister, Bonnie Miller of Little Rock, AR; her daughter and her husband, Jean and Lee Melvin of Alpharetta, GA; her daughter Maureen Hanley (Prescott) of Hilton Head, SC; son John Hanley of Snellville, GA; Granddaughter and husband Traci and Chris Foreman, Granddaughter and husband Terri and Ryan Pruitt, Grandchildren Roy Prescott IV, Christa Prescott, Kelsey Hanley and Corey Hanley; and Great-Granddaughters, Ashley and Amanda Foreman, Alexis and Kennedy Pruitt and many nieces and nephews scattered around the country. Peggy truly believed music was the best way to celebrate her Faith and found so much love and joy with her “four-legged” kids. She would not have had nearly as much joy in her life the last 25 years without the choir, the relationships it brought to her life and the love of her dogs. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Roswell United Methodist Church (memo line: Peggy C Hanley Memorial), 814 Mimosa Boulevard, Roswell, GA 30075, or to Angels Among Us Pet Rescue. (http://www.angelsrescue.org/)

Mrs. Peggy Cullen Hanley

November 3, 1931 - January 23, 2015