Peggy L. Frankel, homemaker

Peggy L. Frankel, a World War II war bride who later became a Baltimore homemaker, died Thursday from pulmonary failure at her Pikesville home. She was 97.

The former Peggy Lenore Engel, the daughter of Nathan Engel, a grocery store owner, and his wife, Dorothy Engel, a homemaker, was born in Baltimore and raised in the city’s Pimlico neighborhood.

She was a 1941 graduate of Forest Park High School. While visiting Atlantic City, she went on a blind date with Dr. Victor Frankel, a bacteriologist.

“He was from Philadelphia,” said a son, Stuart Frankel, of Cockeysville. “He had just returned from serving with General Patton in Europe and was being assigned to depart from California for the war in the Pacific. She traveled cross-country on a train that was filled with soldiers. The only other woman on the train was a nun who took in my mother.”

After she arrived in California, the couple wed in 1942, and Dr. Frankel was spared Pacific warfare.

“The atomic bomb was dropped, and the war ended before he had to go overseas,” her son said.

After returning to Baltimore, the couple lived briefly in Pimlico before moving to Mount Washington and finally Pikesville, where they were longtime residents.

For several years, she worked in her husband’s medical practice as business manager, secretary and receptionist.

Mrs. Frankel volunteered at Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center.

She was a member of the Woodholme Country Club and enjoyed playing bridge and mahjong.

Mrs. Frankel was an accomplished cook and baker and enjoyed entertaining family and friends.

She was also an inveterate Orioles fan and, in recent years, seldom missed a game, her son said.

Mrs. Frankel was a member of Baltimore Hebrew Congregation.

Graveside services are private. In addition to her son, Mrs. Frankel is survived by another son, Bob Frankel, of Pikesville; a daughter, Cynde Frankel, of Monkton; six grandchildren and nine greatgrandchildren.