Margaret Rene’ (Pegues) Kinney

May 27, 1940 ~ July 31, 2021 (age 81)

Obituary

MARGARET P. KINNEY

BENNETTSVILLE – Former Bennettsville newspaper journalist and copy editor, Mrs. Margaret René Pegues (Peggy) Kinney, 81, of Bennettsville died peacefully at her family antebellum home, Magnolia, in the loving arms of her husband of over 57 years, and daughter, Saturday night, July 31, 2021.

For the past 21 months she valiantly struggled with various stages of lung cancer and its associated treatments and complications, all the while demonstrating her true spirit, strength, and grit to family and friends.

She was born a daughter of Victor René Pegues and Elisabeth Hamer Pegues on May 27, 1940, in McColl, in the home of her maternal grandparents, Dr. and Mrs. Douglas Hamer. She spent her childhood at Spring Hill (Pegues Place), the ancestral Colonial land grant Pegues family plantation home in upper Marlboro County.

After matriculating at public schools in Cheraw, she attended and was a graduate of Saint Mary’s High School in 1958 and Saint Mary’s Junior College in 1960, both in Raleigh, NC. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Women’s College of the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, NC, in 1962. While in college she served as a summer intern, reporter, and feature writer with The Charlotte Observer. After graduation and moving to Atlanta, GA, with college friends, she was an Associate Editor of “Southern Power and Energy Magazine” of W.R.C. Smith Publishing Co.

While in Atlanta she was introduced to her future husband, William Light (Bill) Kinney Jr. of Bennettsville on his 29th birthday, October 26, 1962, by a longstanding mutual family friend, Florie McLeod Ervin of Florence. After an 18-month courtship, they married at Central United Methodist Church in Monroe, NC, where her mother then lived.

Upon marriage she moved to Bill’s hometown of Bennettsville, and there she and he have since lived raising their two children, Elisabeth Mayer Kinney McNiel and William Light Kinney III, and doting on three grandchildren. She worked with her husband at Marlboro Publishing Co., Inc. dba Marlboro Herald-Advocate prior to their retirement in 2014. Since 1979 she relished hosting and pampering family and friends at the family summer cottage, -30-, in Pawleys Island.

In addition to her husband, survivors include her daughter and son-in-law, Elisabeth Mayer Kinney McNiel (Daniel Edward McNiel) of Bennettsville; three grandchildren, Robert Leland McNiel III (Emma Johnson McNiel) of Chattanooga, TN, Margaret Jane McNiel of Knoxville, TN, and William Light Kinney McNiel of Wofford College, Spartanburg; 10 ½ month old great-grandson, Robert Leland McNiel IV of Chattanooga; sister, Frances Elisabeth Pegues Burroughs of Conway; nephew, Henry Buck Burroughs III (Julie) of Brandon, FL; niece, Victoria McNeill Burroughs of North Charleston; great-nephew, Henry Buck (Hank) Burroughs IV, also of Brandon, FL; and numerous Hamer and Pegues cousins and close friends.

In addition to her parents, she was predeceased by her son, William Light Kinney III, on July 21, 1989.

Locally, she was involved in many activities throughout the years including willingly supporting her husband, children, and grandchildren in their numerous endeavors. She was an active member and leader of First United Methodist Church, member of the Rotary Club of Bennettsville, and former President of Marlborough Historical Society and Junior Charity League of Marlboro County. She was a former Chairperson of the historic Jennings-Brown House Committee, was an active member and former Chairperson of the Marlboro County Historic Preservation Commission and was a member of the Pee Dee Chapter of The Daughters of the American Revolution. She was also a founding member of the exclusive “Thursday Lunch & B Club” and “Bennettsville Lachromaniac Society”.

She held numerous statewide positions including being member and past Chairperson of the former South Carolina Mother of the Year Selection Committee, serving as Pee Dee Committee Chairperson of The National Society of The Colonial Dames in The State of South Carolina, being member of The Huguenot Society of South Carolina, and serving as former board member of the South Carolina Museum Foundation and South Carolina Governor’s Mansion Commission.

A brief burial service at 10:00 a.m. will take place at Sunset Memorial Park, 1200 West Main Street, for family and close friends followed at 11:00 a.m. by a Celebration of Life service at First United Methodist Church, 311 East Main Street, Bennettsville. The family is receiving friends at her home, Magnolia, 508 East Main Street.

Memorial donations may be given to the William Light Kinney III ’91 Endowed Scholarship Fund at Wofford College, Attention: Office of Advancement, 429 North Church Street, Spartanburg, SC 29303.

Online condolences may be offered at bfhbennettsville.com.

Burroughs Funeral Home in Bennettsville is honored to serve the Kinney family.