Peggy Ann Hurless

Peggy Ann Donahue Hurless passed away peacefully on Tuesday, October 15th with her family present. She was 65 years old.

Peggy was born on January 8, 1959 in Pocatello, Idaho to Dennie H. (Buddy) Donahue and Donna Wessman Donahue. She was the sixth of nine children that lived with their parents at the Lone Cedar Creek Ranch in Mackay, Idaho. Peggy and her siblings enjoyed a childhood of magical experiences at that ranch; riding horses and getting themselves into all sorts of adventures.

During Peggy’s 4th grade year, the Donahue family moved to King Hill, Idaho where Buddy worked as a cattle foreman for the Pitch Fork Ranch and Peggy and the rest of the kids continued their childhood adventures, making many friends, and swimming and riding horses at the Cow Camp in Hill City.

In 1971 The Donahue family returned to Mackay. This is where Peggy spent the rest of her school years participating in many activities including basketball, track & field, 4-H, and rodeo. Peggy was crowned Rodeo Queen her junior year. She was also part of a 4-H team that got to travel to New Mexico to take part in a national horse and livestock judging event.

After high school, Peggy attended CSI in Twin Falls, Idaho on a basketball scholarship. She then moved to Boise, Idaho where she worked as a dispatcher for the Ada County Sheriff's Department. She truly enjoyed living and working there with her brothers Tom and Kelly, and made many lifelong friends and many special memories. One of which was rekindling with her longtime heart throb, Greg Hurless. The two stayed in touch bumping into each other over the next three years until Greg finally won Peggy over and they were married on April 3, 1981.

Greg and Peggy had a small wedding at the home of her grandparents, Dennie and Ella Donahue, and they honeymooned in Sun Valley, Idaho. They soon moved to Cobalt, Idaho where Greg was the General Supervisor of the Blackbird Mine. On May 8,1982 they welcomed their daughter, Misti. The three of them left Cobalt that fall and moved to Mackay and Greg began working at the Thompson Creek Mine. The next winter, is when the Hurless family made the move to Challis. And on January 14, 1985, Greg and Peggy welcomed their son, KC.

The Hurless family spent the next few years moving around the town of Challis as Greg worked his way up the ladder at the mine. Many times throughout those years, Greg’s two boys, Jesse and Travis came to spend time with the family and were welcomed each and every time as if they were her own. Peggy was the core of her family and as much as their world wouldn’t have revolved without her, her world revolved around them. She was an amazing wife and mother; the first one up in the morning and the last one to bed at night, once she was sure that everyone was taken care of. Her care was not just limited to her husband and children, Peggy’s love and involvement spread throughout the entire family. She loved to be around family and when her parents were no longer able, she loved to host for the holidays, getting everyone together. She not only traveled for her children’s sports and activities, she would be anywhere she was able, from Idaho to Massachusetts, to support her brothers and sister and nieces and nephews as well.

As her kids got older, Peggy poured any extra time she had into the community. She was a 4-H leader, JV basketball coach, substitute teacher, and a CCD teacher at the Catholic Church. When her brother, Kevin’s health declined, Peggy rallied the Mackay and Challis communities together to hold a benefit in his honor and raised thousands of dollars to help with his expenses. That was the beginning of many benefits and years of service that Peggy, with the help of many, including Delores Ivie, contributed to Custer County.

As her kids grew up and moved away from home it wasn’t long before Peggy welcomed grandkids to her family. She loved being a grandma and just as she had with everything else in her life, she poured her whole heart into it. As kids sometimes do, they both made their way back to Challis for a few years. Brandon, KC and Chelsey all worked at the mine with Greg. This may have been when Peggy was the happiest. Hosting family dinners and grandchildren’s birthday parties and watching her grandsons wrestle and grow up was her focus during those years.

All things eventually come to an end, and the kids all moved away again and then, to the surprise of everyone, in 2016 Greg and Peggy left Challis too. Greg went to work for Robinson Copper Mine in Ely, Nevada, but in 2018, they bought a beautiful little home on the Salmon River just outside of Challis to retire in and in 2019, they were able to both do just that.

Peggy was preceded in death by her parents, Buddy and Donna Donahue, and her brothers Bobby, Dennie, and Tom Donahue. She is survived by: her husband, Greg, her Daughter, Misti (Brandon) Corrigan, her son, KC (Chelsey) Hurless and her two step sons, Jesse and Travis Hurless. She is also survived by her four brothers, Kelly (Casey) Donahue, Kieran (Jeanie) Donahue, Kevin Donahue, and Tim Donahue and her sister Ellen (Randy) Corgatelli along with 6 grandchildren and 6 step grandchildren.

A Rosary will be held on Saturday, November 9, 2024 at Saint Barbara’s Catholic Church in Mackay at 10:30 AM for family and close friends and an Open House Memorial at the Mackay High School Auditorium at 12:00 PM with a luncheon to follow.