Ann Journeay Peake

ANN JOURNEAY PEAKE, beloved wife of the late David Wainwright Peake, mother of three children and a doting grandmother to seven grandchildren, died March 13, 2007. She was 81 years old and resided in Houston and, as much as possible, in Hunt, Texas on the North Fork of the Guadalupe River. Born March 28, 1925 in Liverpool, England, she was the daughter of Hildegarde Storey and George Baldwin Journeay. Her father was an independent cotton broker then based in Liverpool. Insistent that his daughter be established at the outset as an American citizen despite her English birth, she was brought into this world at home, with an American flag draped over a canopy bed, where her mother was attended by a doctor in full evening dress, it being the day of the Grand National Race in England and the doctor being called from a prior social engagement. She was a "Proud Texan," in her words, with distinguished Texas ancestors dating back to the earliest days of the Republic. The Journeays, her father's family, were from Staten Island, New York and came to Galveston before 1842. The Storeys, her mother's family, were Scotch/Irish who migrated down the eastern coast to Georgia, where her great-great grandfather John Thompson Storey, fought in the Cherokee Indian Wars, was elected to the Georgia Senate and eventually settled near Gonzales, Texas in 1845. He became an early Texas Ranger and served in the Mexican War of 1846-1847. Her great-grandfather Leonidas Jefferson Storey of Lockhart, Texas, was a lawyer, legislator, state senator, and, during the Civil War, showed the way into Galveston for Confederate troops, where they defeated Northern forces in the Battle of Galveston. He later became Lieutenant Governor under Governor Oran M. Roberts and was appointed the second chairman of the Texas Railroad Commission. Henry Journeay, her paternal great-great grandfather, was a survivor of the ill-fated Mier Expedition that in 1842 went to Mexico in retaliation for the Mexican raid on San Antonio. The Texans were defeated by Santa Anna and subjected to a unique and brutal retribution that was commemorated in a Frederic Remington painting on display at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. A jar was filled with beans, every tenth bean being a black bean, while the others were white. The ones who drew out a black bean were immediately shot. Henry dug deep, pulled out a white bean and was spared. He was then marched to Jalapa and imprisoned. While awaiting his release, he carved a violin that Ann's father subsequently donated to the Texas archives in Austin. Ann and her parents returned from Liverpool to Houston in 1927. She attended Poe Elementary, Lanier Junior High and Lamar High School. She finished her high school years at Chatham Hall in Virginia and developed a life-long love of the school, which she served for many years as a member of the Alumni Council. She graduated from Smith College in 1947. Vacationing in Bermuda on her 22nd birthday, she met her future husband, David Wainwright Peake, at the 21 Club on the island. They were married in 1948 and lived in a quonset hut on the Yale campus while her husband completed his degree on the GI Bill following service as a Marine in World War II. They moved to Houston in 1950 and immediately set down deep roots, raising their family there. She was a member of The Assembly, the Bayou Club, the Garden Club of Houston, the Junior League of Houston and the Town and Country Garden Club. Ann treasured and took delight in her home in the Texas Hill Country where she spent summers from her early youth swimming in the Guadalupe River and entertaining her many friends and family, especially her grandchildren. She loved gardening, crossword puzzles, cooking, needlework and bird hunting. She is survived by her daughter Robin Peake Stuart and her husband, Sandy Stuart of Lake Forest, Illinois, her son David Wainwright Peake, Jr. and his wife, Katherine Fordyce Peake of Fredericksburg, Texas, her daughter Susan Storey Peake of Sea Island, Georgia, her cousin Robert Lewis Dabney, Jr., his wife Judith Anderson Dabney and his sons James Storey Dabney and John Nelson Dabney, all of Houston, and her seven "nearly perfect" grandchildren Ann Robinson Stuart, Robert Douglas Stuart IV, George Journeay Peake, Samuel Fordyce Peake, David Wainwright Peake III, Henry Journeay Peake, and Zoe Marie Peake who were her true joy. Her love of family and friends and her wonderful sense of humor will be sorely missed by all. A memorial service will be held in the "old church" at St. Martin's Episcopal Church at two o'clock in the afternoon on Monday, the 19th of March. Private interment will be at Glenwood Cemetery. Honorary pallbearers are her grandchildren and John L. Welsh, III, Ted Welsh, David Welsh and Gray Muzzy. In lieu of flowers, please make contributions to Chatham Hall, Chatham Virginia, 24531, or the Garden Club of Houston, c/o Major Community Gift Fund, 4212 San Felipe, PMB 486, Houston, Texas 77027.