"MARION'S MERRY WIDOW"

published in Marion, Ind., Chronicle-Tribune, Feb. 12, 1978 ©

         If they'd had jetliners in her day, Peggy Wilson certainly would have been part of the jet set.

         She was young, wealthy, sophisticated, a delightful hostess, a minor playwright and an elegant dresser. Her clothes often came directly from a model's back in New York or Paris to her closet in Marion, Ind.

         Widowed at 29, she traveled in the sophisticated circles of New York and Chicago, her friends there often including the rich, the famous and the creative. Edgar Lee Masters, whose "Spoon River Anthology" had made him a national celebrity, was only one of many renowned people who formed the Marion widow's social circle after the death of her banker husband in 1916.

         And the world of New York and Chicago often came to Marion, with Mrs. Wilson hosting her well-known and well-heeled friends in her luxurious home at Fourth and Garfield streets. It was one of the two worlds in which the former school teacher lived, and it and the other world, the one of her local friends and events, were kept separate from each other.

         "We weren't included when Peggy's New York or Chicago friends were there," one of those Marion friends, Mrs. Virginia Manning, 5139 N. Peconga Drive, said.

         "There were not too many people invited from Marion then," agreed another friend from those days, Mrs. Josephine Davis, 723 Euclid Ave.

         But Marion certainly knew of the fancy parties that lighted up the 24-room Wilson mansion. It apparently wasn't as aware of Peggy's romantic involvement with Masters, however.

         "I didn't know too much about that," Mrs. Davis said. "I do know many, many wonderful people came to visit her -- writers, opera singers, artists.

         "I didn't meet him, but I knew he was there. I don't think it could have been very serious; she knew so many interesting people."

         Mrs. Manning wasn't aware of the love affair between the famous poet and the prominent widow, either. "No, not until his book came out that had it all in it," she said. "That's when the gossip around town started."

         The book was Masters' "Mirage," published in 1924, which featured a female character named Becky Norris, believed to represent Mrs. Wilson.

         Whether they knew of the affair or not, no one could doubt that Peggy Wilson was a jet-setter in the steam-engine era. "She was determined she was going to have a good time and meet people, that's for sure," Mrs. Davis said.

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  Copyright 1978 by Jerry Miller ©

  Photo courtesy of Hostess House, Marion, Ind.

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