Peggy Small

Obituary

Peggy Small

5/20/1942 - 3/11/2026

Peggy Small was a person who valued love, peace, and justice and longed to share these with others. She was born in Chillicothe, OH, and at the age of 9 moved to Rome, GA.

Peggy met the love of her life, Sara Wirth in Girl Scouts in the 12th grade. At first Sara and Peggy were not fond of each other. According to Sara, Peggy had a “you’re not going to ignore me” attitude around everyone. And, unfortunately, at the campground the sewage pipes were placed above the water pipes, so many in the camp caught typhus, Peggy included. She had a terrible fever, and when she woke up, she stared into Sara‘s eyes and fell immediately in love. Sara said the feeling was not mutual since Peggy was vomiting everywhere at the time!

Fortunately, Peggy was nursed to health and as time passed Peggy softened with her demeanor. In time, Peggy and Sara became a pair. After high school she attended Bessie Tift college in Forsyth where she earned a bachelors degree in mathematics and science. Peggy was inspired to help people. Initially she dreamed of enrolling in the military so that she could become a physician. But after falling in love with Sara, she decided she wanted to stay local.

After college she went to Grady where she trained to become a medical technologist. She served in this role for 30 years in the VA lab. Apparently, she was so gentle with how she could stick patients that if the ICU had a patient they could not stick they would call Peggy.

Peggy’s chosen family was very important to her. She sang with the Atlanta Feminist Women’s Chorus starting in 1996 and was a founding member of Oursong, Atlanta’s LGBTQ mixed voices chorus. Just 3 days before her passing, Peggy lovingly welcomed the chorus around her hospice bed to join in song.

Peggy is survived by her wife of 63 years, Sara Wirth and their family of choice, Ann & Ron Henson and their children Shea, Geoff, and Brandon. Peggy would want to be remembered for being Sara’s wife, and for spreading kindness & love.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to OurSong Atlanta. OurSong - Everyday Giving