Peggy Jean (Lackey) Kittler passed away peacefully and went to be with God on January 5, 2024, at the age of 92.

Peggy was born in Boaz, AL on April 10, 1931, the daughter of Luther Martin and Minnie Viola (Jones) Lackey. After graduating from high school, Peggy earned her BA from Jacksonville State Teachers College (now Jacksonville State University) and her MA from Peabody College (now Vanderbilt Peabody College).

With her degrees in hand, and after teaching elementary school physical education in Alabama, Peggy moved to Pensacola and taught physical education at Pensacola High School. Soon after she arrived in Pensacola, she made good use of the acrobatic skills she developed as a high school and college cheerleader and joined the Starflights U. S. Navy Trampoline Team, which performed across the country and toured with the U. S. Navy Blue Angels.

Then, on August 11, 1956, after a whirlwind romance, Peggy married a young Marine Corps Naval Aviator, Simon Kittler, at the Chapel of Peace at NAS Corry Station, Florida, beginning her thirty-year adventure as a military spouse, which she embraced with extraordinary grace and a spirit of service. She remained steadfastly attentive to her family's needs and interests through the wartime deployments and the long days and months of family separation, and ensured their children's education and personal development were never hindered by the family moves and the rigors and give-and-take of military life.

After retirement and after living several years in California, Peggy and Si returned to Pensacola, Florida where they could watch their two grandsons grow, play baseball, and excel in school. They spent their final years together at the Azalea Trace retirement community in Pensacola.

Peggy and Si had an enduring love and thoroughly enjoyed each other's company and partnership. Whether it was their participation in gourmet dinner clubs, gatherings in their home, military social events, water aerobics, or vacation trips together, they always seemed perfectly matched to each other. Peggy warmed hearts with her gentle and loving references to her husband as "My Si." Late in Si's life and during an Azalea Trace sing-a-long, Si, who could no longer speak or move due to illness, managed to mouth the words to "You Are My Sunshine" as he struggled to lay his hand gently over Peggy's. There was not a dry eye in the room.

Even telling jokes was a team effort. Although Peggy was eager to get the jokes started, more often than not, she would get stuck and plead with Si to step in. However, as he finished telling the jokes she started, ad-libbing along the way to spruce them up, he patiently endured her interruptions as she corrected his rendition. The punchlines were never the funniest part of their joke-telling.

Caregivers at Azalea Trace's Willowbrooke Court, where Peggy spent the final years of her life, knew her as a witty "little spitfire" and "Queen Peggy," a master of negotiating for head and shoulder massages, commanding those she enlisted into her service, "don't stop" once they got started. Indulging her was an irresistible pleasure.

Peggy is preceded in death by her husband of more than 62 years, Simon Jay Kittler; their infant son, Simon Scott; her parents, and her sister, Rachel Merritt.

She is survived by her daughters, Angela Roberts (Steve) of El Cajon, CA, and Christina Doss (Robert) of Cantonment, FL; son, Mark Kittler of Denver, CO; grandsons, Robert Doss, III (Lara) and Bryan Doss (Lauren), great-granddaughter, Camden Doss, and great-grandson, Robert Simon Doss.

Visitation will be held from 10:00 am until the funeral service begins at 11:00 am on Saturday, January 13, 2024, at Harper-Morris Memorial Chapel. Peggy will be interred with her husband in a private ceremony at Barrancas National Cemetery at NAS Pensacola, FL.

The family would like to thank the staff at Azalea Trace and Willowbrooke Court, Florida West Hospital ICU, and Covenant Hospice for their love, kindness, and care. We will be forever grateful.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to ACTS (Azalea Trace) Willowbrooke Court (please write "Activity Dept." in the check memo line), 10100 Hillview Dr., Pensacola, FL 32514.