MULLEN, Margaret “Peg” 1917-2009
MULLEN, STRATHMAN, PETERSEN
Posted By: S. Bell
Date: 5/9/2010 at 22:40:21
LA PORTE CITY, IOWA - Margaret "Peg" Mullen, of La Porte City, died Friday from complications of age.
She was 92, having been born in Pocahontas in 1917. Peg was the middle child of two brothers, Howard and Bill Goodyear, and two sisters, Isobel Strathman and Louise Petersen. After graduating from Pocahontas Catholic High School, she moved to Des Moines to work in various federal jobs. In 1941 she married Oscar "Gene" Mullen of Waterloo, and in 1948 they moved to Cedar Township in Black Hawk County and settled on the original homestead of John Dobshire, who emigrated from Ireland in 1852.
Peg and Gene had five children, the second dying at birth. They farmed and Gene also worked at Rath Packing Co. and eventually retired from John Deere. Peg worked at J.C. Penney Co. and Santa Claus Industries. Peg stopped working outside the home in the early 1960s to raise her kids. She was often involved in activities at Don Bosco High School, Gilbertville. Peg and Gene's lives were forever changed when their oldest son, Michael, died in Vietnam in February 1970. Not being able to learn why Michael had died, as there was no official report and his platoon members had been instructed not to talk to them, Peg began a quest to learn what she could. Her journey led to trips to the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., to testify before Congress in regard to amnesty, to late night calls from Vietnam veterans, to confrontations with elected officials and to the book about her quest, "Friendly Fire," by C.D.B. Byran. Time magazine called the book the best nonfiction of 1976. The book became a television movie in 1980, starring Carol Burnett, Ned Beatty, Sam Waterston and Timothy Hutton, winning an Emmy for best drama.
In 1976, Peg and Gene began going back and forth between the farm in La Porte City and Brownsville, Texas, and after Gene died in 1986, Peg lived in Brownsville year-round. She returned to La Porte City in 2002. She had many friends of many ages, cultures and races and politics. She especially loved her La Porte City Bridge club friends, Iva Del, Bertha, Evelyn, Thelma and Ardie. Peg loved her peace and justice friends, LaRita and Sally. She loved Michael's friends, Martin and John. She was a woman of strong opinions and was greatly admired. Peg wrote her own memoir, "UnFriendly Fire," which was published by the University of Iowa Press in 1995. She then donated her papers to the Women's Archives at the University library. In 1998, Peg was inducted in the Iowa Women's Hall of Fame. At the age of 90 she received the Feisty Woman Award from the Iowa Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.
Peg was preceded in death by her husband, Gene, and son, Michael. She is survived by Patricia, and grandson, John; by Mary and Rich, and grandchildren, Ryan, Megan and Katie and John; and Jeanne and grandchildren, Kellee and Patrick. Donations may be made to the Bosco System or the Iowa International Women's League for Peace and Freedom.
Services will be at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at St. Mary of Mount Carmel Catholic Church, Eagle Center, with burial in the church cemetery. Public visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Hagarty-Waychoff-Grarup Funeral on South Street, Waterloo, where there will be a 7 p.m. rosary. Visitation will continue at the church for an hour before services on Wednesday.
Condolences may be left with www.hagartywaychoffgrarup.com .
[Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier, Monday, October 5, 2009]
Black Hawk Obituaries maintained by Karen De Groote.
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