{"id":48827,"date":"2026-10-09T12:04:55","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T17:04:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?p=48827"},"modified":"2026-10-09T12:04:55","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T17:04:55","slug":"margaret-peggy-ann-ballinger-89-of-neoga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/48827-margaret-peggy-ann-ballinger-89-of-neoga\/","title":{"rendered":"Margaret &#8220;Peggy&#8221; Ann Ballinger (89) of Neoga"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-post pdfprnt-top-right\"><a href=\"javascript: window.print()\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-print\" target=\"_self\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/print.png\" alt=\"image_print\" title=\"Print Content\" \/><span class=\"pdfprnt-button-title pdfprnt-button-print-title\">Print<\/span><\/a><\/div><div>Margaret &#8220;Peggy &#8221; Ann Ballinger, age 89 years and seven months of Neoga, Illinois passed away peacefully Thursday October 8, 2026 at her home surrounded by her loving family.<\/div>\n<div>Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11:00 AM Wednesday October 14, 2026 at St Mary of the Assumption Church 690 N. Walnut St. Neoga, Illinois. Visitation will be held one hour prior to mass at the Assumption Hall. Burial will follow in the St Patrick Cemetery Trowbridge, Illinois.<\/div>\n<div>Peggy lived a life rooted in love for her family, a deep spiritual faith, and an enduring love of gardening, quilting, baking especially bread, and sewing. Talents that she passed to many of her children and grandchildren. &#8220;It\u2019s Peg\u2019s way or the wrong way.&#8221; She was born in rural Sigel the daughter of Harry and Dorothy (Ludwig) Schwerdt. Peggy married Harold Ballinger on May 4, 1957 in Sigel, Illinois. She worked as a seamstress for Kerns Manufacturing in Neoga. She was a member of St. Mary of the Assumption Church of Neoga.<\/div>\n<div>Margaret is survived by her children, Cyndi (Rick) Ambrosch, Deborah (Steve) Kaufman, David (Anna) Ballinger, Mary (Alan) Lee; daughter-in-law, Diana Ballinger; grandchildren, William (Kayleigh) Rahn, Alissa (Austin) Wilder, Sarah Ambrosch, Amber (Drew) Willenborg, Brianne Kaufman, Gunner Ballinger, and Derrick Ballinger; 5 great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.<\/div>\n<div>Margaret was preceded in death by her parents; husband Harold of 68 years the love of her life; son Michael Ballinger; and sisters, Dorothy, Marilyn, Eilleen, Emma, Bonnie and Rita; brothers, Henry, George, Lawrence, and Mike.<\/div>\n<div>In lieu of flowers memorial donations are suggested to the St Michael School of Sigel.<\/div>\n<div>Online condolences may be made at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.swengel-odell.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=http:\/\/www.swengel-odell.com&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1791650140494000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1BN-d7EhH8fWbIassVjWIz\">www.swengel-odell.com<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Margaret &#8220;Peggy &#8221; Ann Ballinger, age 89 years and seven months of Neoga, Illinois passed away peacefully Thursday October 8, 2026 at her home surrounded by her loving family. Mass [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":48828,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-obits"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Margaret &quot;Peggy&quot; Ann Ballinger (89) of Neoga - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/48827-margaret-peggy-ann-ballinger-89-of-neoga\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Margaret &quot;Peggy&quot; 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