Peggy Woods

Peggy Davis Woods of Decatur, Georgia, age 99, passed away on Monday, July 14, 2025, after a short illness. She passed peacefully at home with family at her side.

She was born November 5, 1925, in Clanton, Alabama to Willard Milton Davis and Una Belle Mahan Davis. She attended school, kindergarten through college, at Montevallo College in Montevallo, Alabama. She loved and excelled in art and music.

In 1944, because of wanting to support the war effort, she decided to pause her college education to go to Montgomery, AL to take the Civil Service test. The United States government picked her and sent her to Washington, D.C. right away to do clerical work in the OSS building. She served from May through the end of the following summer, 15 months, not knowing the meaning of the codes she typed or the nature of the office's activities until 50 years later. After that job, she returned to college in the fall.

An avid swimmer, she served as Lifeguard at Alabama College during her college summers, keeping the pool open for the children of the community, just one of the jobs she worked to pay for her college education. Others included clerical and office work at Montevallo College and assisting in her art teacher's studio there. She took classes all year, including through the summers, to finish three years of college curriculum in two years and graduate in 1947 with a degree in textile design.

She went to work at Avondale Mills in Sylacauga, AL, designing clothes from their fabrics, at times collaborating with Mr. Thomas Woods, Jr., a textile engineer at the mill. Mr. Woods' younger sister, Frances, was Miss Davis's friend and her classmate, so she knew him then as her friend's big brother. While working together at Avondale Mills, they fell in love and married in 1948.

She and her husband had a son and a daughter. When the children were little, she returned to Shorter College in Rome for her second undergraduate degree in Education, allowing her, in the late 1950s, to begin what turned out to be a 32 year career in education.

After obtaining two college degrees, she went on to earn two Masters degrees during the 1960s. She had student teachers in her classroom, but wanted to do more to support young teachers just starting out, so she first attended Georgia State University in Atlanta, GA and then the University of Georgia in Athens to earn her Masters in Administration and Supervision, allowing her to become a supervisor of new teachers. Continuing her studies, she earned a Masters in Art Education from UGA.

Mr. and Mrs. Woods retired from their careers in 1990, the year she turned 65. Mr. Woods passed away in 1998 after they celebrated their 50 year wedding anniversary. Since that time, Mrs. Woods stayed very busy, continuing to paint, singing in a barbershop quartet group, and playing an active role in her church. She served as a spiritual leader for the young women and

children of the congregation by teaching Sunday School class for children, teaching Wednesday Ladies Bible Class, and she was a frequent guest speaker at Ladies' Days events. During moments of calm, she most enjoyed watching the world go by, in the company of visiting friends and family, sitting in her rocking chair on her front porch.

She is survived by her son Thomas Dargan Woods, III (Terri) of Dacula, GA and daughter Rebekah Woods Brewer (Ted) of Salem, S.C.; grandsons Christopher Woods (Jane), Blake Woods (Lauren), David Woods (Sarah), and Andy Brewer (Beth); granddaughters Laura Hughes (Kit) and Sarah Miller (Adam); nine great-grandchildren; brother Roy Davis (Dixie) of Fort Worth, TX and sister Faye Davis Kennedy of Pelham, AL. She is predeceased by her parents, husband Thomas Dargan Woods, Jr., and brothers John, Willard, Wayne, Paul, and Hubert Davis.

There will be a memorial service on Saturday, July 26th at the Northlake Church of Christ on Cooledge Road in Tucker, GA, with a reception following.