In honor of Women’s History Month and Joplin’s Route 66 Centennial Celebration, Historic Murphysburg Preservation, Inc. will proudly present two stories. The first story is about
Dorothy was born in 1921 in St. Joseph, Missouri, graduated from Central High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1939 and married Wallace Peck in 1941. Together they raised six children. Dorothy would bring the children to Mac’s Bakery and they all worked there while growing up.
It was truly a family business. In a November 2025 interview with Terri Holgate, one of the Peck’s daughters, she said, “It was a happy business because people bought cakes for celebrations.”
Terri further explained that her mother preferred to remain “behind the scenes.” Dorothy was self-taught from books. She developed recipes to make them better like the icing used on the cakes. The recipe remains a family secret. Besides baking, decorating, parenting, plus managing the books and finances, Dorothy found time to teach cake decorating. Terri described her mother as fearless, driven, and very honest.
In a March 2026 interview with Michelle Peck Endicott, another one of Dorothy’s daughters, she relayed the story of how Dorothy would manage the daily cash intake. Every night Dorothy would put the cash in her purse and carry it around all week! By Sunday, Dorothy’s shoulder was weighed down from carrying the purse. On Sunday the family would sit around the table and sort the money so it could be deposited on Monday. It was Dorothy’s idea to locate their store on Route 66 because she thought it would draw a lot of traffic.
DIVERSITY and KINDNESS on ROUTE 66
Dorothy was always giving away donuts, especially to children. One day a little boy wanted a gingerbread house so much that Dorothy gave it to him for free. It normally sold for $20. The gift “put the boy into ecstasy.”
Some customers were low income while some came from the wealthier parts of town. While Dorothy embraced the diversity of the neighborhood around 7th and Sergeant, she would ask “panhandlers” in front of her business to come to the back door where she would give them coffee and donuts.
On May 11, 2017 at the age of 95, Dorothy passed away at a daughter’s home following an illness.
“MAC’S” — WHAT’S IN A NAME?
Wallace and Dorothy purchased Mac’s Pie Shop in 1957 from Harry and Flora Thurston. Three years earlier the Thurston’s purchased the pie business from O. F. MacLendon, thus the name “Mac’s.” When the Pecks retired in 1984, their daughter Terri Peck Holgate and her husband Robert took over for the next 30 years.
After MacLendon was no longer affiliated with the business, customers would still ask for “Mac,” so Wallace adopted the nickname of “Mac” and later so did Robert because it was easier than the explanation. The first line in Wallace’s obituary read, “Wallace Townes “Mac” Peck, age 82 of Joplin, passed away…”
May 2011 Joplin Tornado Crashes Into Dorothy’s Life
As the Joplin EF5 Tornado developed on May 22, 2011, Dorothy watched the sky from her Redwood Apartment Complex. At the advice of her granddaughter who lived upstairs, Dorothy moved to her bathroom just before the tornado hit the complex. The deadly tornado also damaged approximately one-third of the city. As Terri said, her mother was fearless. While the complex sustained major damage and some buildings were totally destroyed, her individual unit survived the storm. Only one plate broke and Dorothy was unharmed. Michelle, another daughter, said after the tornado Dorothy continued her life of kindness toward others and the ability to “take charge.” Immediately after the tornado, she gave shelter and medical attention to her injured and crippled neighbors. She used every towel she owned to treat their wounds and blankets to comfort them—all this at the age of 89 years old! After the Redwood apartments were completely rebuilt, Dorothy returned to live there. Dorothy’s beloved Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints building (Joplin Stake Center), where she was a member, also took a direct hit.