Dr. Peg O. McCuistion

Dr. Peg O. McCuistion died at her home on Monday, May 18, 2015. She was born one of a pair of twins on July 28, 1930 in Houston, Texas to William Darby Orem, a Houston attorney, and Dorothy Beckett Orem, a native of Dallas, both now deceased. The family moved to Wimberley in 1946 and she graduated from San Marcos High School. She married Palmer Day McCuistion of Wimberley in 1949 and they had a daughter, Leeanne E. McCuistion, now living in Wimberley. Peg was predeceased by her parents, grandparents, sisters, Jane Orem Mayfield and Anne Orem Stapp. In addition to her daughter Lee, Peg is also survived by numerous nieces, nephews, and great nieces and nephews. In 1959, single, she resumed her education while working full time to support herself and her daughter, earning a bachelor's degree from Southwest Texas State University in 1963. Shortly thereafter, she and her daughter relocated to Silver Spring, Maryland, where she worked at the National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council while earning a master's degree in hospital administration from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. in 1968. She then was employed as an administrator by Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring until 1979, during which time she became interested in hospice work and traveled to St. Christopher's Hospice in London to study. She subsequently was recruited as executive director by Hospice of Southeastern Michigan in Southfield, a suburb of Detroit. During her seven year tenure there, she guided the hospice from the first meeting of the board through state licensing, Medicare and Medicaid certification, accreditation by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals, and demonstration project for Michigan Blue Cross and the State of Michigan, as well as research on the use of morphine for hospice patients. A pioneer in hospice work, she was often called "the grandmother of hospice" by her colleagues. She also earned a doctoral degree from Wayne State University in Detroit in 1989. She returned to her native Texas to take the position of executive director of Hospice Austin, where she served from 1987-1994, when she retired to Wimberley. She then worked as a consultant to hospices in Puerto Rico and Hungary, and studied at hospices in Australia, England and Singapore, formed her own consulting business and worked for a year as consulting administrator for Hospice Home Care-San Antonio. Peg held memberships in the following organizations: The American College of Hospital Administrators of which she is a Fellow and served on the membership committee; the Maryland Hospital Associations; the D.C. Hospital Associations; the National Hospice Organization of which she chaired the standards and accreditation committee and was responsible for revising the standards for hospices; the Michigan Hospice Organization of which she served on the board, the executive committee and chaired the education committee; the Texas Hospice Organization of which she was president of the board and chaired the legislative and education committees; and the American Hospital Association. She was appointed to the Texas governor, Ann Richards' home health care advisory council. She was named Who's Who of Women, Who's Who of Human Service Administrators and Who's Who of the Southwest. She was elected to Alpha Chi Scholastic Honor Society (Texas Iota Chapter). She was inducted into Holy Cross Hospital, Silver Spring, MD Legacy Society and was honored by Hope Hospice, New Braunfels, TX for her contributions to Hospice and to Hope Hospice. She believed her greatest accomplishment was raising her daughter and seeing her through a master's degree in social work and on to a career in both pediatric and hospice care. Special thanks to Janice Breeze, Wimberley Life Care, Wimberley, to Rodney and Kim Dean, Creekside Personal Care Home, Spring Branch, to Hope Hospice of New Braunfels and to Frank Robinson, MD, Austin, for his diligent devotion and care for over 30 years. A memorial service will be held at 2:00 pm on Tuesday, June 2, 2015 at Chapel in the Hills Church, 14601 Ranch Rd. 12, Wimberley, TX. Memorial contributions may be made in Peg's honor to Hope Hospice, 611 N. Walnut, New Braunfels, TX 78130 or to the Chapel in the Hills Church. "Do not go gently into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light." ~Dylan Thomas