Margaret Duffy Hatter

Margaret “Peggy” Duffy Hatter of Asheville, NC, passed away on September 8, 2024 at her home with her family by her side after a long battle with Alzheimer’s. She was 79 years old. Born November 25, 1944 in Philadelphia she was the daughter of the late John P and Elizabeth (McLaughlin) Duffy. Peggy was a graduate of Academy of Notre Dame in Philadelphia, PA, Class of 1962 and Fitzgerald Mercy Hospital Nursing School, Darby, PA, Class of 1965. She married Bruce Hatter in April 1966 and they shared five children. Her career as a nurse spanned more than 35 years and began in a clinical setting working in emergency room hospitals in the cities where she lived to include Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Flint, Michigan; Englewood, Colorado; and Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She worked part-time for many of those years while raising her children.

Peggy went back to school after moving to Winston-Salem and completed her BSN at Winston-Salem State University in 1997 and her MSN from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro School of Nursing in 1999. During this time Peggy joined Family Services of Winston-Salem and moved away from hospital nursing and became an advocate for victims of sexual assault. She became a certified Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) in 1998 and headed up the Forsyth County Forensic Nurse Examiner Program. She also served as chair of Family Services’ Family Violence Advisory Task Force which provided countless community educational programs in all areas of interpersonal violence, sexual assault and child sexual/physical abuse. As part of her work at Family Services she further assisted the North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault, locally organized SANE training in Winston-Salem and assisted the Rape Victim Assistance Fund in developing a reimbursement form to be used statewide by forensic programs. She went on to establish a community wide Sexual Assault Response Team comprised of multi-disciplined professionals to address systems approach to sexual assault. Peggy served as a mentor to numerous nurses in their efforts to establish similar programs in their own communities and began a preceptorship program to incorporate newly trained SANE nurses into their local programs. In 2003 she was a recipient of the North Carolina Great 100 Nurses award.

In addition to her professional work, she was very involved in the local schools serving as both President of the Mount Tabor High School PTA and the PTA council sexual abuse liaison, as well as volunteering in the high school’s guidance office. She additionally held the position of President of the North Carolina Council of PTA Presidents. Peggy could be found on the sidelines of soccer and football fields, sitting in the bleachers at basketball games, and in the stands at tennis matches cheering on her kids.

In 2000 she moved to Oak Island, NC and continued her career as an advocate for victims by joining Coastal Carolinas Health Alliance as a SANE Project Coordinator, serving as faculty for SANE training for RNs across the state and serving a 2-year term as the first President of the North Carolina Forensic Nurse Association.

Peggy will be remembered for a love of books, hosting a good party, spoiling her grandchildren, family games at the kitchen table, and quiet time at the beach with her dog.

She is survived by her children and grandchildren, Beth Oniskey and her husband, Richard, of Flourtown, PA and their children, Carly and Ella; Michael Hatter of Asheville, NC; Marnie Hatter of Asheville, NC and Kevin Swider and his wife, Jamie, of Cornelius, NC, and their children Logan and Morgan.

She is preceded in death by her son, James Van Dong Hatter, brother John Patrick Duffy and sister Maureen Ann Duffy.

Memorial services will be held at 11 AM Thursday, October 3, 2024, at St. Leo the Great Catholic Church, 335 Springdale Ave, Winston-Salem, NC 27104.

Honors will be provided by N.C. Nurse Honor Guard, Piedmont.