Margaret Troutman

October 7, 2026

A memorial service for longtime Lamar, Colorado resident, Margaret Troutman, will be held at 10 a.m. on Friday, October 16, 2026, at the Peacock Family Chapel with Ray Matteson of the Lamar Christian Church officiating. Inurnment will follow at the Fairmount Cemetery in the Veterans Section. 

Per Margaret’s request cremation will take place and there will be no visitation. 

Margaret was born on January 1, 1931, at Altoona to Irvin J. and Arzilla M. (Shoaf) Wiles and passed away on October 1, 2026, at the Lamar Estates Nursing Home in Lamar, Colorado at the age of 95 with her family by her side. 

Margaret Ann Wiles was the first baby born in Wilson County, Kansas on January 1, 1931. Margaret had two sisters, Winifred Denzler and Roberta Forsythe, and three brothers, Warren, Samuel and Richard Wiles.

At a young age, Margaret accepted Jesus as her Saviour and was baptized in a little white church in Altoona.

Margaret attended one room elementary schools in Anderson County near Garnett – Rockford, Excelsor, and Newland. She graduated from eighth grade at Harmony District School. She graduated from Altoona Rural High school in 1948. School photos show Margaret styling her lovely long hair in pigtails.  In her senior yearbook, she willed her bubble gum to the freshman girls.

After graduating from high school, Margaret had a job sitting with an invalid lady and her husband. That lasted about two weeks. Per Margaret, “I didn’t like that job!” She went to work at Nellies Café in Altoona that same year as a dishwasher. That lasted a couple of days. Apparently, Margaret was out front striking up conversations with the customers and helping them more than doing dishes. So, she was promoted to being a waitress. The café changed hands without notice and Margaret was out of a job. 

In Margaret’s words, “They done me a favor!” 

Because…then came this soldier boy home by the name of Bob Troutman in August of 1952 and swept her off her feet. On a very special date, Bob told Margaret to look in the glove box of his 1946 Mercury. She found a box with an engagement ring in it. They were married on September 5,1953 in Nowata, Oklahoma. They paid the preacher man a $10 bill. 

The newlyweds lived in a little three-room house (not 3 bedrooms, just a bathroom, front room and a bedroom with a real little kitchen) in Neodesha. This is where they welcomed their first born, a baby boy, Cecil Wayne, in June 1954.

This little family of three moved to Tribune in December of 1954. Some probably thought this was not a good idea. Guess it was, because they lived in Tribune until 1962. A daughter, Lee Ann, was added to the threesome in June of 1957.

A move to Sheridan Lake, Colorado came in August of 1962 when Bob began working for the Sunflower Telephone Company as a repairman. Margaret worked at Boulware Grocery in Sheridan Lake until the store closed in 1966. Then she was employed by International Multi Foods/Millford Mills in Towner, Colorado sacking bird seed and sunflower seed until 1980. All the while, Cecil and Lee Ann attended and graduated from Plainview School.

In November of 1982, the couple moved back to Tribune where Bob was the warehouse manager for the telephone company. Margaret kept busy by working at Marlane’s Fabric Shop and volunteering at the Helmwood Nursing Home doing hair care. Margaret discovered a love for tole painting. She would paint old family homestead scenes on anything from cream cans to saw blades, even toilet seats. Several quilts were stitched with love and given to her kids, grandkids and great grandkids.

After Bob had retired from the phone company, the happy couple moved to Lamar, Colorado in 2002. Here they enjoyed being closer to family and all the activities that go along with that, school programs and activities of the great grandsons and family gatherings or just driving around in their Ford Edge and eating out. You would find them at Shorty’s in Granada almost every Saturday night or at the Hickory House in Lamar enjoying breakfast or lunch on some days.

Margaret self-taught herself the art of crocheting to keep her hands busy. Over the span of many years, she crocheted numerous Christmas stockings for her family, baby afghans for the great grandkids and great-great grandsons. The adults in the family were not left out; everybody in the family received some sort of crocheted afghan. Margaret blessed roughly 1150 of her grandkids’ students at various schools with little crocheted Christmas stockings, spanning roughly 30 years.

Life took a change for Margaret when her beloved husband, Bob, of 71 years passed away in 2024. 

God made Margaret a strong and independent woman. She was able to live in the little yellow house that they had made home for 23 years until she took a fall and had to make different living arrangements. She moved into The Legacy in Lamar, Colorado and began making new friends and acquaintances. That really should not surprise anyone; she never met a stranger. And if she did, give her 5 minutes - you would not be a stranger for long. With life changes, Margaret made her home at the Lamar Estates in 2025. To no surprise, the staff here loved her like their own grandmother. She would bring a smile to the gals that sat at her table for meals with her witty little quips about having the cows milked and the chickens fed. And the Easter Bunny will never be the same after Margaret pinched his little tail, or was it the tail at all?

Margaret decided to take a walk with Jesus to her forever home on October 1, 2026. We have no doubt that Bob met her with a cup of coffee. May Margaret’s legacy of love and having the joy of life be remembered by her family and all who came to know her.  

A quote from Margaret – “We probably did some things we shouldn’t have, haven’t we all. But we have no regrets!”

Margaret is preceded in death by her husband, Bobbie “Bob” Troutman, her parents and siblings, Winifred Denzler, Warren Wiles, Samuel Wiles, Richard Wiles and Roberta Forsythe. 

Margaret is survived by her children, Cecil (Dee) Troutman of Williamsburg, Colorado and Lee Ann (Mike) Brooks of Lamar, Colorado; grandchildren, Mindy (Kenny) Davis of Lamar, Colorado, Jenny (Josh) Watson of Stephenville, Texas, Shawn (Alissa) Brooks of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Jeremiah (Nicole) Troutman of Stephenville, Texas and great-grandchildren Joshua (Savannah) Davis, Blake Davis, Branden Davis, Joel Davis, Magi (Nate) Robinson, Maci (Cain) Brown, Laine Watson, Christopher Brooks, Jonathon Brooks, Case Troutman, Hesston Troutman and Abilene Troutman and great-great-grandchildren Cash Brown and Oliver Davis. She is also survived by numerous nieces, nephews, other family and a host of friends. 

Memorial contributions may be made to the Red Cross of Colorado either direct or in care of the funeral home office. 

Services are under the direction of the Peacock Family. 

For current information and online condolences, please visit the Peacock Family Funeral Home website.