Margaret Dalton (“Peg”) Sloan of Wheaton, Illinois, passed away on February 14, 2017, surrounded by her family. She was 91 years old. Peg was born in Chicago on December 20, 1925, to James and Margaret (Carmody) Dalton. The third of seven children, she survived polio, diphtheria, scarlet fever and just about every childhood infection known to mankind. An avid reader from an early age, she graduated from Holy Name Cathedral High School and attended DePaul University in the early 1940s while working for the War Production Board on Navy Pier. It was there that her boss introduced her to an old college friend, Bernard “Barney” Sloan, then a young Army captain serving in the South Pacific. Their two-year V-mail courtship blossomed on Barney’s return from the war. They met at Union Station in 1946—he had written her to look for a soldier with a horse’s head on his shoulder, and she spotted his First Cavalry insignia on the first try. They were married at Maternity B.V.M. Church in Chicago on April 19, 1947, with the Rev. George Hulett presiding. In the years that followed they lived in Indianapolis, Dubuque, Evansville and Kankakee as Barney pursued a successful career in the grain milling business. When he retired in 2000 after four decades, they made a final move to Wheaton to be close to family. Peg gave birth to seven children—a half-dozen boys and a girl—and raised six. Her first, James Bernard, was born prematurely in 1948 and died at two days of age. The six who followed enjoyed robust health and kept Peg on her maternal toes until the day she died. In her fifties, with all her children nearly out of nest, Peg embarked on a remarkable writing career. Starting as a freelance contributor to the Kankakee Daily Journal (her first published essay was on the trials and tribulations of being a redhead), Peg went on to become an award-winning editor and columnist, honored by both United Press International and the National Press Women’s Association for her work. She wrote more than 700 columns on a wide variety of subjects, including motherhood, human nature, her Irish heritage and the sometimes humbling experiences of a big-city girl who married into a farm family. Peg Sloan is preceded in death by her son James Bernard and by her siblings Mary Manning, Catherine O’Connor and James Dalton, Jr. She is survived by Barney, her husband of 69 years, and their children Bernard (Sharon Stoerger), Stephen (Carrie), Mark (Elisabeth Chicoine), John Henry (Susan Lindner), Mary Ellen Murnane (Patrick) and Christopher (Mary). She leaves 16 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Peg is also survived by her siblings, Monsignor John Dalton, Joanne Callahan (Eugene) and Patrick Dalton (Ginger). The family wishes to thank Debbie Budner for her friendship and loving care in Peg’s final years.

Funeral Information

Visitation: Saturday, February 18th 11:30-12:30 PM at St. Michael’s Catholic Church, 310 Wheaton Ave., Wheaton, IL 60187.

Mass of Christian Burial to follow at 12:30 PM at Church. St. Michael's Catholic Church, 310 Wheaton, IL 60187.

Interment will follow at Queen of Heaven Catholic Cemetery in Hillside.

Arrangements entrusted to Friedrich-Jones Funeral Home, 44 S. Mill St., Naperville, IL 60540. For more information, please call 630-355-0213 or www.friedrich-jones.com