Peggy Ann (Peg) Martin Colborn

Peggy Ann (Peg) Martin Colborn was born June 18, 1933 in Attica, KS, to Carlysle and Bessie (Mayfield) Martin. She died January 3, 2026 in Newton, KS. 

She met Frank (Don) Colborn in Emporia and they married on March 12, 1954. Seven children were born of this union. 

As a young mother in Newton, KS, Peg attended Wichita State University and, in 1977, after completing Baccalaureate and Masters Degrees in Clinical Psychology, graduated with honors and with all seven of her children present. She worked in a variety of disciplines through the years: as an instructor at WSU, advertising and public relations writer in Newton and Director of Public Relations at Colby Community College, retiring in 1992. The Colborns then moved to Solomon and Peg reentered the work force as PR Director at Memorial Hospital in Abilene until she retired permanently in 1998. She then developed a home-based, desktop publishing business under the name “PC Services.”

Peg was a member of Kansas Press Women and the National Federation of Press Women, earning many awards for her work, including National first place recognition in short story writing, public speaking and PR campaign development. While in Newton, she was active in theatre production for many years on both sides of the lights. She was an avid reader and fitness enthusiast, and loved traveling. 

After a series of health setbacks, Peg was unable to walk or travel extensively and utilized the computer to maintain close ties with family and friends. She continued to write, her efforts running the gamut from poetry to books, especially one volume in which was collected a lifetime of her published and unpublished works, completed at age 77 and titled Odyssey of a Writer. She also wrote a biography of her mother and, at age 80, took on the task of transcribing and writing continuity for annual diaries written by her father from 1941 to 1977. That labor of love, completed in 2017, was her last serious writing effort.

Peg was an avid bridge and, nearing 80 years old, she began volunteering at a local assisted living center, teaching and playing bridge with residents on a regular basis. This one activity brought her more pleasure, she said, than any other. She was able to share the game she loved with others of her generation who no longer felt able to join clubs and get “out and about.”

Peg was preceded in death by Don, beloved spouse of 68 years; eldest son, Alan; her parents; three brothers: Harold “Buddy,” Raymond “Shorty,” and Bob; two sisters: Claudine and Cora “Corkie;” and granddaughter, Samantha. She is survived by four sons: Martin (Roxann) of Newton, Michael (Kathleen) of Newton, Richard of Salina, and David of Coffeyville; two daughters: Cathy (Will) Summers of Albany, OR, and Amy (Richard) Vigil of Lynchburg, VA; eleven grandchildren; 17 great-grandchildren; one great-great grandchild; and one sister, Helen of Columbia, MO.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at St. Mary Queen of the Universe Catholic Church, Salina, on Saturday, January 10, at 10:00 AM. Burial will follow in Mount Calvary Cemetery, Solomon.

In lieu of flowers, Peg requested that donations be made to the Salina Mission or the Salina Food Bank.

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