She was one of the gentlest, sweetest and kindest women I have ever known—easy on the eyes, too. So I was saddened to learn of the troubles she endured in her later years, and her death on October 28.
My connections to Peggy Crippen were few. We attended Bryan Adams High School between September 1968 and May 1971. She and I then matriculated at the University of Texas and lived in Jester Dormitory. We went on a few dates, one of which was a football game at Memorial Stadium. Peggy seemed certain that she had made a mistake, feeling lost and overwhelmed among the huge UT student body. I was no less, but I stuck it out; she transferred to TCU, about one-seventh the size. I have thought many times that perhaps I should have followed a similar path. We talked again at the 15-year BA high school reunion and then had some interaction on Facebook. The last time was at least a decade ago.
The other information I have learned about Peggy comes from her son, Jason. She was born on February 27, 1953 in Indiana, and her family moved to Texas before she turned two. She had a brother, Larry, who was three years older. Peggy graduated from TCU with a bachelor’s degree in childhood education and followed that up with a master’s at North Texas State University. For most of her professional life, she worked as an educational diagnostician for deaf and mentally disabled kids. That fits with the Peggy I knew.
She married a fellow Horned Frog named Manuel Lopez Rivera in 1978 and gave birth to Jason (her only child) two years later. Jason tells me that she was caring and kind-hearted as a mom—again, no surprise. But there were problems in the marriage, manifesting in 1993 when her husband hooked up with a waitress. They divorced, and she was thenceforth the main provider for Jason although his grandmother on his father’s side helped out. Jason, by the way, later graduated from Texas State University in San Marcos.
He started noticing some forgetfulness around 2000, and it only got worse. Her problems must have been evident to her second husband, Ed Corzine, from 2002 to 2008. In time, Peggy was diagnosed with vascular dementia, generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder. That left her vulnerable to bad persons—one in particular, named Juan Martinez. He purported to be a computer repairman and a private investigator, but Jason doubts the legitimacy of both claims. So much does he detest Martinez that he just calls him “the con.”
It’s a chaotic and convoluted tale, and one that is none too pleasing. Jason has been dealing with lawyers, the probate court in both Tarrant and Johnson counties, the Texas Rangers, the Fort Worth Police Department, the Church Angels Funeral Home, the FBI, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Financial Exploitation Center of Tarrant County, Adult Protective Services, the Teacher Retirement System of Texas and representatives of other entities. Some have been helpful and others less so. He has sold his house and motorcycle to pay for legal fees, and this drama is still not yet complete.
As I mentioned earlier, Peggy was somewhat at risk after two divorces. Martinez sensed that and took advantage. He borrowed money from her, although he paid it back. He started to remove belongings from her house at 10821 Tall Oak Drive in Fort Worth and sell them. Then, in November 2021, he convinced Peggy to name him the beneficiary of her will—not son Jason or brother Larry, but this Juan Martinez! Surely the Tarrant County clerk (Mary Louise Nicholson) or the attorney submitting the document (Davis McCown) could have glanced at her and realized she was wholly incapable of changing the beneficiary of her will. Jason is contesting this.
The last time he saw his mother was in August when she was wheeled into Judge Kenneth Newell’s family law courtroom in Fort Worth. Peggy was, he says, overweight and in a vegetative state, compounded by diabetes, breast cancer and a rare hand disease called Dupuytren’s contracture. Martinez—legally or not—took her to a hospice care center in Cleburne where she died late last month. About the only good thing in all of this, according to Jason, is that “the con” does not seem to have sexually abused her.
Peggy Crippen, very easy on the eyes…
Dancing with her hubby…
Peggy and Jason on right….
Family gathering…
Peggy the professional…
“the con”…
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