Peggy Joyce Barnt, age 92, a longtime resident of Keith County, NE, passed away on Monday, April 28, 2025, at The Birch (Sutherland Care Center) in Sutherland, NE.
Peggy is survived by her daughter, Patti Barnt (Andy McIntosh) of Mullen, her brother, Darrell Hendrix of Ogallala, and sister, Lila Sue (Dennis) Wilkison of San Jose, California, and numerous nieces and nephews, and cousins. Peggy was cremated, and there will not be any services. Memorials are suggested to the Paxton, Nebraska, Volunteer Fire Department
Peggy was born at home in rural Holt County, Missouri, on March 19, 1933, the second eldest child of Clifton William and Bernice Gambee Hendrix. She attended school in Maitland, Missouri. Her father was a farm hand, and the family moved frequently in the area.
After graduating, she worked as a nanny and in a school for the disabled in the Villisca, Iowa area. Eventually, Peggy moved to Santa Monica, California. She worked in the cafeteria at a Catholic Hospital, a paper goods store, and at Douglas Aircraft during the years she lived there.
She moved to Keith County around 1970 to care for her brother Bill’s children. He introduced her to Donald Barnt of northeast Keith County. Don and Peggy were married on September 18, 1971, in Ogallala, Nebraska. They lived on Don’s cattle ranch north of Paxton, which Don’s father had homesteaded. They had one child, Patti. After the rural school that Patti attended for kindergarten closed, Don and Peggy bought a house in Paxton for their daughter to attend school. Don stayed on the ranch year-round. Peggy and Patti would stay the school week in town and go home to the ranch on for weekends, school breaks, holidays, and the summer. Peggy worked part-time at Garnet’s Café and would drive to the ranch to help Don when needed. After Patti graduated from high school, Peggy lived on the ranch year-round with Don.
Don passed away in August 1994. Peggy continued living on the ranch with her daughter until 2009, when she moved to Ogallala.
Due to her mobility issues, Peggy moved to the Golden Ours Nursing Home in Grant, Nebraska, in 2019. After recovering from hip surgery in Denver, Peggy moved to Pioneer Memorial Nursing Home in Mullen, Nebraska, in December 2020. Peggy stayed until the facility closed in March 2022. She chose to go to the nursing home in Sutherland, Nebraska, where she was for six months. Peggy requested to be moved to Linden Court, where she stayed until December 2023, when she moved in with her daughter in Mullen. Peggy returned to The Birch in Sutherland in June 2024.
She was preceded in death by her husband Donald Barnt, parents Clifton and Bernice Hendrix, infant sister Lois Jean, brother Martin Hendrix, sister and brother-in-law Ruth Ann and Harry Marker and their two children Harold Jay Marker and Bernita Zimmer, sister Beth Wilson, brother and sister-in-law William (Bill) and Leona Hendrix, and niece-in-law Chis (Steve) Hendrix.
No services are scheduled at this time.
Draucker Funeral Home has been entrusted with assisting the family.
Condolences may be left by going to www.drauckerfh.com.
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