Peggy Hausman

"I'm a curious person; in fact, with most of the questions, I want to know the answer, too," she said. "To me, the only bad question is one that doesn't get an answer."

Hausman met her high school sweetheart, Mitch Hausman, at age 15 in her hometown of Saint Joseph, Mo. The two married in 1978 and moved to The Woodlands in 1981. They raised their two sons, Nick and Pat, in The Woodlands, and when the couple began their family, they decided she would stay home, with one condition.

"He said, 'I don't want you to feel like you ever have to stay home,'" she said of her husband. "'I want you to be involved."

She accepted the challenge, serving on various boards and committees and volunteering with the Boy Scouts of America, South Montgomery County Food Bank, Montgomery County Juvenile Advisory Board and PTAs, among other organizations.

Having witnessed exponential growth in The Woodlands, Hausman said the community has faced several challenges, including how to inherit amenities and when to let private enterprises run them. With no personal business interest in the community, she said, her impartiality allows her to be opinionated and speak up for the residents.

"The [Development Company] does have the right to put whatever they want on their land, but sometimes it doesn't hurt to draw the conscience into the mechanism," she said.

Although she does not know how much longer she will serve on the township board, Hausman said she has the same passion for serving as she had three decades ago.

"What's special about this community, in my opinion, is that you have a lot of people where this is their new home," Hausman said. "Nobody here has roots here, so you had to become each other's family. This was a melting pot family, and hopefully that will stay imbedded in the fabric of The Woodlands."