When Tom Currie and Peggy Davenport first visited Presbyterian Mo-Ranch Assembly they never guessed they would later celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary at the exact same spot.
The couple married on June 20, 1970. On June 20, 2020, they returned to Mo-Ranch for the weekend with their family to celebrate.
“It was wonderful to be at Mo-Ranch for our 50th anniversary, especially after being separated from family during this pandemic,” Peggy Currie said.
Their kids even surprised them with a memorial bench in the courtyard named after their family near the Manor House.
“I know Mo is a special place for my parents, which is why we wanted to honor their 50th anniversary with a bench, but it is also the most special place for my siblings and me, and I hope it will be for our children too,” said Kate Carey, one of the couple’s daughters.
Peggy Currie said she and her husband were overwhelmed by the bench.
“It was a gift from our children and their families in honor of our 50th anniversary and as an expression of their love for us as well as for Mo-Ranch and it’s family connections and history,” Peggy Currie said.
Tom and Peggy Currie both came to Mo in the summer of 1963 members of the high school summer staff.
Tom was from Houston and Peggy was from Alice, Texas.
“We took little notice of each other that summer, and usually tell folks that we met at a funeral but the funeral was for John Solomon who had been a seminary intern/chaplain at Mo-Ranch when we worked there and the funeral was in a sense our reconnection,” Peggy Currie said.
That second meeting was the start of something new and sparked a lifetime of Mo memories.
But the Currie family has ties to Mo-Ranch that goes back much further.
“Tom’s dad, Tom Currie Jr., was instrumental in the purchase of Mo-Ranch for the Presbyterian Church back in 1949 and served for 14 years as a founding trustee,” Peggy Currie said. “There have been several family reunions of the whole Thomas Currie clan.”
The family’s legacy at Mo is marked by the Currie Courtyard, located between the Manor House and the Manor House Classroom.
Together, Tom and Peggy Currie have three children and five grandchildren — all of whom inherited their love of Mo-Ranch. Their three children continue to visit Mo-Ranch for the Men’s and Women’s conferences and family reunions.
The newest generation loves the Mo Slide.
“All five of our grandchildren have gone down the slide,” Peggy Currie said. “When our youngest grandchild went down for the first time in 2019, we celebrated by going down for the last time.”
The couple, who are members of the Circle M Club, lived in North Carolina for about 12 years, so they weren’t able to visit Mo as much as they would’ve liked. But they are now back in Texas, living in Georgetown.
“We have been able to come to Mo-Ranch frequently for family reunions, church retreats, Easter celebrations ands to be part of the Guadalupe Gathering,” Peggy Currie said.
Kate Carey said it’s hard for her to remember the first time she visited Mo.
“I’ve seen pictures of myself swinging in the infant swings by the Guest Lodge, so I must have been pretty young,” she said.
Over their anniversary weekend, their daughters, Anne and Kate and son-in-law, Chad, and granddaughters, Birdie and Evie, came together at Mo-Ranch to celebrate.
“Birdie went down the slide at least seven times in one day and Evie went off the rope swing an equal number of times, in addition to canoeing and going to the rapids,” Peggy Currie said.
Their son, Chris, and his family were not able to join, but everyone in his family are veterans of the Mo Slide, she said.
“Mo-Ranch is our happy place,” Peggy Currie said. “We are so grateful for a place with family history that our whole family loves and where we have memories and connections and relationships going back decades.”
A bench, like the one gifted to Tom and Peggy, is just one option for making an honorarium gift at Mo-Ranch. To learn more about leaving your mark at Mo, click here.
