Peggy Maurine Lambert

Peggy Maurine Tanner Lambert, 84 passed away on Sunday, May 6, 2018 at Jefferson Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Beaumont, TX, after a lengthy battle with Alzheimer’s disease. Funeral services are scheduled for 2 pm, Thursday, May 10, 2018 at Tranquility Mausoleum in Oak Bluff Memorial Park, Port Neches, TX, under the direction of Pace-Stancil Funeral Home with the Reverend Kyle Williams officiating. An interment will follow at Oak Bluff. A gathering of family and friends will be held at Pace-Stancil in Dayton, TX, on Wednesday evening, May 9, from 5 to 8 pm.

Born in Cleveland, TX, on August 11, 1933, Peggy graduated from Liberty High School in 1952 and began working at the Liberty Courthouse. One Sunday, at the age of 19, she was spotted walking out of the local Baptist church by a young man named Pat Lambert, just recently returned from serving in Germany during the Korean War. Pat was so immediately taken with Peggy that he turned to a nearby friend saying, “If that girl looks up at me, I’m going to marry her!” She looked up. The couple were married on February 21, 1953 and remained so for 56 years until Pat’s passing in 2009.

In their early years of marriage, the couple traveled the coast of the Southern states following jobs in which Pat worked as an insulator, meanwhile having three kids. Sid was born in Louisiana, Carla in Florida and, finally returning home after nearly a decade of travel, Karen was born in Texas. Settling down in Pat’s hometown of Port Neches, the couple began the task of raising their 3 children and becoming involved in various church and civic organizations which, for Peggy, included teaching Sunday School at Central Baptist Church, and assignments as PTA president, Worthy Matron of the Eastern Stars, and Mother Advisor to the Rainbow Girls. After their children were raised, the couple began square dancing as a hobby. It became a lifelong passion for them, bringing many hours of joy and leading to their retirement in Harlingen, TX, considered a mecca for retired square dancers from throughout the U.S.A.

Each summer for 2 weeks, during the last week of July and the 1st week of August, the Lambert family made their way to Garner State Park for camping along the banks of the Frio River. The family swam, tubed the river and danced the night away at the park’s open-aired pavilion, making memories that would last a lifetime and creating a tradition still carried on by family members to this day. Peggy loved camping with family and friends and the Garner legacy she and Pat left is never to be forgotten by her children and grandchildren. They are the happiest of memories.


Peggy was a member of First Baptist Church in Port Neches, TX. She is preceded in death by her beloved spouse Sidney E. “Pat” Lambert, Jr., her parents Perry Aubrey, Sr. and Seivel Margaret Tanner, brothers Milton and Tarlton Tanner, as well as an infant granddaughter named Tina Maurine Lee.

She is survived by son, Sidney E. “Sid” Lambert and his wife Dena, daughter Carla Nero and her husband Ronnie, as well as daughter Karen Lambert Brantley. As the oldest of 9, Peggy loved her younger siblings very much. She is survived by brothers Alfred and Perry Tanner and sisters Margaret Brackin, Renell Fondon, Judy Wheeler and Darlene Tanner. Surviving grandchildren are Rene Self Dinscore, Sidney E. Lambert, IV, Eric Lambert and wife Jessica, Christy Lee Conrad and husband Chris, Jennifer Rene Vincent and husband Mark, Cade and Jace Brantley, Breanne Nero Henson and Joe, Trent Nero, Ken, Jennifer, Nick and Michael Thornell. Also, 13 great grandchildren and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.