Peggy Greenough MacCarty
1941-2024‍

The party in heaven has started. Peggy Greenough MacCarty of Sheridan died on January 9, 2024, from natural causes at Westview Health Care Center. She was 82.

Born May 31, 1941, to Lee and Claire Mankin, Peggy grew up on the historic 4J Ranch in Campbell County. Socializing was a religion to Peggy, and she was devout – starting with the secret high-school shindigs she threw in Gillette with the late Jayne Harris. Peggy was later crowned Casper College Rodeo Queen. She married Pat Greenough in 1961 and the couple returned to college, later moving to the Greenough family’s hundred-square-mile ranch near Recluse. Their son Greg was born that fall, their daughters Glo in ’63 and Kelly in ‘66.

As a housewife with three kids under 5 living on the Powder River, Peggy became a 4H leader and mentored several girls in sewing and making wool products. The Creswell girls spent many hours ripping out stitches and starting over again, and again. Peggy also regularly made all-day trips delivering Avon products to her friends near and far.

During this time, Glo became ill and spent many months in Denver’s Children’s Hospital. After Glo’s final surgery, the Greenough family traveled for nearly two months around the country visiting national parks and Disneyland. Glo then passed away the summer of 1967. She was 4.

Peggy’s youngest child, Vince, was born in June 1969, and the family remained on the Powder until ’74 when the Greenough ranch was sold. At that point, they moved around northeast Wyoming as Pat worked on the historic T7 and 28 ranches, plus they lived for a time at the mouth of Tongue River Canyon, finally moving near Prairie Dog Creek.

Peggy’s recipes were magical; her stories never-ending. At the 28 Ranch, the Board of Directors for Sun Oil loved her cooking so much that they asked her to host their meetings twice a year. Over the decades, Peggy also kept working with kids teaching 4H crafting and cooking. Sewing was always a major part of her life. In fact, in 1982 Peggy spent an entire year making custom suits for Kelly during her Miss Rodeo Wyoming campaign.

In the interim, Peggy had launched Paper Dolls, the business that introduced her taste and extraordinary talents to a wide swath of people. Today, very few older homes or commercial buildings in northeast Wyoming didn’t contain wallpaper perfectly hung by Peggy.

After her 25-year marriage ended in 1986, Peggy married Archie MacCarty, and they lived on the Flying H Ranch until Archie’s ’92 death. He was only 61. Peggy continued hanging wallpaper for decades. She later enjoyed a relationship with Bill Daley, with whom she traveled and hosted friends, until his death. In more recent years, Peggy was a seamstress for 15 years at the VA Hospital in Sheridan, where the veterans enjoyed her. And she loved watching her grandson, Dylan, compete in multiple sports after he moved to town five years ago.

No one embodied the phrase “larger than life” better than Peggy. She tried to make anything fun, no matter where she was – even retaining that infamous sense of humor until her final days. Peggy’s sheepish giggle and that great belly laugh are unforgettable, like the joy she brought so many people through her delicious meals, relentless truth-telling and amazing décor. “Vaya con dios” to the tiny pistol who never showed up without a good story and a good cocktail; who is the eternal life of the party.

Peggy was preceded in death by her infant sister, Mary Lee Mankin, her parents Lee and Claire Mankin, her daughter Glo Greenough and her sister Betty Hough. She is survived by her sons, Greg Greenough of Gillette and Vince Greenough of Sheridan, her daughter, Kelly (Marvin Robb) of Sheridan, and her grandson Dylan Greenough Groom.

A public viewing and rosary service will be held for Peggy at Holy Name Catholic Church in Sheridan on Jan. 15 at 9 and 9:30 a.m., respectively, followed by the funeral service at 10 a.m. at Holy Name. A celebration of Peggy’s life will be held afterward, at Sheridan Elks Lodge 520. Champion Funeral Home has been entrusted with local arrangements, and online condolences may be written at www.championfh.com. Memorial contributions in Peggy’s name may be made to: ElksLodge, 45 W. Brundage St., Sheridan, WY 82801.