Peggy Whittingham Dies at 95

Peggy Whittingham, wife of the late Hall of Fame trainer Charlie Whittingham, died Jan. 28 at her home in San Marcos, Calif. She passed with her family by her side following a long battle with breast cancer. She was 95.

A service will be held at Solano Beach (near Del Mar) on Feb. 29, Leap Day, on what would have been her 96th birthday.

"She had been dealing with the cancer for quite a few years," said son Mike Whittingham. "It was very slow growing for a long time, and then all of a sudden it decided not to be. She's been in decline for a few months."  

"My mother was a real force," said daughter Charlene von Bluecher. "Anybody who knew her would agree. She was a world traveler. One of the hospice workers who came to help kept calling her 'princess,' and I said, 'Oh, no. She is not a princess, she's a queen.'"

"A lot of the older folks would know that she went toe-to-toe with dad," Mike Whittingham said. "They were very social and social among a lot of the old-time celebrities.

"And what I mean by toe to toe, sometimes dad would call from the track, 'Hey, I'm bringing home so-and-so … it might be 20 people …and mom would have dinner ready and a party prepped by the time they got home. She was quite an entertainer."

And a world traveler.

"She went on quite a few trips with Marie Jones," von Bluecher said. "They took a motor home all over the place and toured Asia together."

"Back in the old days she ran around with quite a few people like Doc Harthill, the Maddens, and the Hirschs," Mike Whittingham added. "One of her best friends was (actress) Angie Dickinson. They spent a lot of time together and she was very supportive after Dad died."

Dickinson at one time was married to the musician and successful Thoroughbred owner Burt Bacharach. 

Peggy "was a lovely person," said breeder/owner Arthur Hancock III, who raced the Whittingham-trained Sunday Silence. "She and Charlie were very much in love; you could tell they had a great relationship. They were very compatible. She certainly was Charlie's rock."

She is survived by her two children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by Charlie, who died at age 86 in 1999, and her son, Taylor.