Margaret "Peggy" Nolen Wallis

Margaret (Peggy) Nolen Wallis passed away peacefully in her sleep on December 4, 2017 in Tulsa, Oklahoma at age 91. She was born in Sand Springs, Oklahoma on St. Patrick’s Day, 1926, the eldest of four children born to Leonard Nolen and Elizabeth Moore Nolen. She attended public schools in Tulsa during the Great Depression and graduated from Central High School in 1943. The following year, while a student at John Brown University in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, she met Ralph David Wallis who called her Peggy. They married in January, 1945 as he was being drafted into the Army during WWII. Months later she was expecting their first child when he shipped out as part of the Army of Occupation in Germany and she gave birth to and nurtured a son with the support of her parents, siblings, and an aunt who was a nurse. Ralph returned stateside in late 1946 and they bought a small home in Tulsa on the GI Bill as he began a job with Tulsa Paper Company. A second son was born in 1947 and in 1953 a daughter completed her family as Margaret embraced her role as a homemaker.

In 1956 Ralph relocated the family to Bartlesville, Oklahoma where their home was a suburban three-bedroom ranch style house. The children remember an idyllic “Leave It to Beaver” life although their mother did not wear pearls and heels while doing housework like June Cleaver. Margaret was perfectly happy with a simple housedress from JC Penney. As the boys reached college age she entered the work force as an office worker for a small local company to help with household expenses. Then, in 1968, Ralph and Margaret moved to Bentonville, Arkansas where he began a successful career in real estate. In Arkansas she became better known as Peggy, as she helped administer the food stamp program in Benton County. Ralph bought her a beautiful home in Bentonville which included an attached greenhouse in which she spent countless hours puttering and showing off her green thumb. She was known by many as “the bear lady” for her collection of stuffed bears that she enjoyed dressing in seasonal costume for display in the front window or front yard of their home on Central Ave. Ralph and Peggy were active members of First Presbyterian Church in Bentonville, supporting many worthwhile causes through the church and in the community. Retirement included some travel and several winters in the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas. After Ralph suffered a stroke in 2009 and needed long term care Peggy moved into an assisted living facility nearby. In the fullness of time they both moved into a nice facility in Tulsa near their daughter. After 68 years of marriage Ralph died in 2013 and now his devoted wife Peggy, a faithful Christian woman, has been reunited with him in God’s heavenly kingdom.

Margaret was preceded in death by her parents and younger siblings, Betty Ann Nolen Grigsby, Leonard Page (Sonny) Nolen, Martha Sue Nolen RoBards and her husband, Ralph.

She is survived by her children, Ralph David Wallis, Jr. (Bonnie) of Corvallis, Oregon, Storm Nolen Wallis  (Marsha) of Inola, Oklahoma, Elizabeth Susan (Libby) Wallis Russell (Bud) of Tulsa; grandchildren Jason David Wallis (Susan) of Corvallis, Oregon, Jennifer Leigh Elizabeth Hart (Jeff) of Peachtree City, Georgia, and William Michael Wallis of Inola, Oklahoma as well as great-grandchildren Katie, Tyler, Jessica, and Lucas Hart and Jaxon Wallis along with many nieces and nephews. She will be missed by all whose lives she touched.

Two memorial services will be held in Margaret’s honor, one in Arkansas and one in Oklahoma. The first will be at First Presbyterian Church, Bentonville, Arkansas on Friday, January 5, 2018 at 2:00 p.m. The second memorial service will be at First Presbyterian Church, Sand Springs, Oklahoma on January 6, 2018, at 10:00 a.m. 

In lieu of flowers memorials may be sent to First Presbyterian Church Food Pantry, 901 NE J Street, Bentonville, AR 72712 or Sand Springs Cultural and Historical Museum, 9 E. Broadway, Sand Springs, OK 74063. 

Arrangements have been entrusted to Stockdale-Moody Funeral Services of Rogers.

Words of comfort may be expressed or memories shared at stockdalefuneral.com.

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