Peggy Clanton
Mrs. Peggy Clanton, 97, of Obion passed away Friday, February 20, 2026, at Magnolia Place in Union City, where she happily spent the last two years of her life.
Services were held 1 p.m. Tuesday, February 24, at the White-Mahon Funeral Chapel in Troy, with Rick Knoll officiating. Burial followed at Mt. Moriah Cemetery. The family received friends at the chapel from 11 a.m. until the hour of service Tuesday.
Pallbearers were Barry Bondurant, Skipper Bondurant, Paul Albright, Larry Albright, Coleman Carpenter and Jason Menees. Her great-grandsons, Morgan Carpenter, Alex Carpenter and Townes Menees, served as honorary pallbearers.
Peggy Mignon Fitz was born January 25, 1929, in Rives, Tennessee, as the youngest daughter of the late Ellis Brown Fitz and Maude Fitz. She attended elementary school in Rives until the 7th grade. At the age of 12, she was playing at a friend’s house in Rives on a late Sunday afternoon in December of 1941 when she heard over the radio that Pearl Harbor had been bombed. She often recalled the story of running all the way home to relay the news to her parents because they didn’t have a radio.
Peggy would share how that day shaped her world view and changed her life like so many of that generation. Just a few weeks later, her family moved to a farm north of Obion, where she finished the 7th grade school year and lived the rest of her life involved and devoted to the Obion community.
She began working for BellSouth in Obion during her early high school days. She earned a place as a maid on the 1947 West Tennessee Strawberry Festival Court and graduated from Obion High School that same year. Just a few months later, she married Boyd Clanton on June 14 as Boyd had just returned home from serving in the U.S. Navy during World War 2.
Peggy continued working for BellSouth until she and Boyd began a family in 1950. She spent several years raising her small children at home before returning to work as a teacher’s aide at the Obion Elementary School and later at American Metal in Union City. But perhaps Peggy will be best remembered as the friendly face of the Obion Office of Gibson Electric Membership Corporation, where she greeted customers from 1978 until her retirement in 1995. Peggy and Boyd were married for 71 years until his death on November 25, 2018.
Peggy was a life-long member of the church of Christ, attending for decades at the former Glass congregation and then at the Oak Ridge church of Christ, where she still drove herself to worship services until the age of 93. She loved to do things for others and was always eager to help when a need arose.
She enjoyed researching genealogy in her retirement and she handcrafted many albums of family history with photos tracing back generations of the Fitz, Andrews, Wright and Clanton family trees. This was all completed without the use of the Internet.
Peggy is survived by her son, Scott Clanton of Obion; her daughter and son-in-law, Rhonda and Ty Tanner of Union City; two granddaughters, Misty (Jason) Menees of Samburg and Lori (Coleman) Carpenter of Troy; four great-grandchildren, Alex Carpenter of Knoxville, Morgan Carpenter of Troy, and Jillian and Townes Menees of Samburg.
She has several nieces and nephews and a cousin, Tandie Fox of Sante Fe, TN.
Peggy is also survived by her long-time “oldest friend” Joyce Albright from the Elbridge community. What began in their early 20’s grew into a lifelong friendship that carried them through more than 75 years of life as farm wives, mothers raising children, and eventually proud grandmothers. They were able to spend the last year of Peggy’s life at the same assisted living visiting each other almost daily, which was a joy to both of them.
Along with her parents, she was preceded in death by her brother, Tom (Belva) Fitz of Memphis; her sister, Leone (Howard) Bondurant of South Fulton; and her sister, Rubye (Ray) Warren of Houston, Texas, as well as her father- and mother-in-law, Morgan and Eva Clanton of Obion.
The family requests that memorials be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, P.O. Box 1000, Memphis, TN; or the Tennessee Children’s Home, 804 Branham Hughes Circle, Spring Hill, TN 37174.
The family of Peggy would like to thank the staff of Magnolia Place for their love and compassionate care during the last years of her life. Their kindness brought Peggy much dignity and comfort in her final days.
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