Former Cupertino resident Peggy Dodge died May 24 at Siena Care Center in Auburn. She was 91.

She was born one of eight children in Sapulpa, Okla. to Helen Lamar Tippen and Guy Henry Gentry.

Dodge's daughter, Jentra Reid, says her mother was a tomboy at heart and loved the cowboy lifestyle in which she grew up. She says her mother rode bucking calves in rodeos at the age of 12 and 13 and also tended her family's livestock.

Dodge married Ide Thatcher in Chama, N.M., in 1929 at the age of 18 and had two children. The couple divorced in late 1941.

Seven years later, Dodge married Eldon C. Dodge and moved with him to Los Angeles. After his death in 1974, Dodge moved to Cupertino where she made her home until 1985.

She moved from Cupertino to be near her daughter and then to be near her son. Dodge spent her last three years, at the Siena Care Center in Auburn.

Reid says her mother was an expert seamstress and knitter, an avid reader and a traveler. She also says her mother will be especially remembered for her dry sense of humor and quick wit. As a victim of Alzheimer's disease, one of Dodge's most memorable comments was: "my short-term memory is a thing of the past."

Dodge is survived by her daughter Reid and son, William E. Thatcher of Fullerton. She is also survived by her nine grandchildren, 14 great grandchildren, one great-great grandson and her only surviving sibling, Bert (La Verne) Gentry of Austin, Texas.

There was no memorial service at Dodge's request. Memorials to her can be made to the Alzheimer's Association: 2065 W. El Camino Real, Suite C, Mountain View, Calif. 94040. For more information call 650.962.8111 or visit their website at http://www.alz.norcal.org.