Margaret Rose Belken

Margaret "Peggy" Rose Belken, 89, of Lakeville, formerly of North Chelmsford and Lowell, died peacefully at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston on November 27, 2025, after a brief illness. She was the devoted wife of the late Leslie V. Belken, who predeceased her in 1999. Born in Lowell on July 9, 1936, she was the sixth of fifteen children born to the late Patrick Joseph Curran of Galway, Ireland and Alice V. Murphy. Peggy grew up in the Wigginville section of Lowell and attended the Sacred Heart School until 1945, when the family relocated to North Chelmsford. Following her graduation from Chelmsford High School in 1954, Peggy worked for CBS-Hytron, where she helped with the manufacture of semiconductors and electron tubes. It was during this time that she met her future husband while dancing at the Commodore Ballroom in Lowell. Les Belken, who was then stationed as a code breaker at Fort Devens, would become Peggy's husband in 1957.

Following their marriage, Peggy briefly became a military wife and relocated to Fort Sam Houston in Texas. At the end of Les's enlistment, they relocated to Corpus Christi, Texas, where the first three of their nine children would be born. In 1963, Peggy and her family returned to Massachusetts and eventually settled in Lakeville in 1965, where she became a communicant of Saints Martha and Mary Parish. She was a devoted wife, mother, and grandmother to her large family. In her youth, she enjoyed dancing and visits to Hampton Beach in New Hampshire. Later in life, she enjoyed her annual summer trip to Wells, Maine, and traveled extensively throughout the U.S. and Europe with her sisters.

Peggy leaves her children, Kathleen Gauthier and husband Robert of Groton, CT, Kevin and his wife Karen Shannon of Yarmouth Port, Kerri of Lakeville, Keith of Boston, Kristopher of Middleborough, Kyle of Middleborough, Kurt and his husband Mauricio Castro of Middleborough, Kara Belken-Tullos and her husband Shawn of Lakeville, and Kendra and her partner Kaileen of Berkley. In addition to her nine children, she is survived by grandsons, Bryan Gauthier, Sean Shannon, Christopher Gauthier, Daniel Gauthier, and Logan Tullos; granddaughters, Amanda Tavis, Palana Belken, Anika Tullos, and Harper Belken; and Gali Gerety. Peggy is also survived by her siblings, Alice Finlay, James and his wife Carol, Maureen Aspell, Catherine, Sheila, Donna Salyards and her husband John, William and his wife Pamela, Susan, and Dennis; sisters-in-law, Marcia Curran and Susan Belken; and many nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her siblings, Mary, John, Christine and her husband Carl Johnson, Thomas and his wife Kay, and Patrick; brothers-in-law, Joseph Finlay, Thomas Aspell, and Donald Belken; and sister-in-law, Debralee Curran.

Her Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, December 11, 2025, at Saints Martha and Mary church in Lakeville. Burial will follow at St. Patrick's Cemetery in Lowell. Visitation will take place on Wednesday, December 10, from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Dahlborg-MacNevin Funeral Home in Lakeville. Relatives and friends are invited.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital or to St. Joseph's Indian School.