Obituary: Peters, William “Bill”
Age 102
In Loving Memory of
PETERS, William “Bill”
William “Bill” Leo Peters, passed away on April 11, 2016 in Colville, WA, at the age of 102.
He was born on October 14, 1913 in Vigo County, Indiana.
He was the ninth of eleven children born to William Thomas Peters and Edith Estelle (Pound) Peters.
The family moved to Montana in 1915 where they lived on a homestead near Mosby, and Bill attended school in Cat Creek, graduating 8th grade with honors.
He came to Chewelah, WA in 1929 to live with family and attend high school.
While a student at Jenkins High School, he drove the horse-drawn school bus through the Cozy Nook area.
He completed high school in three years, and graduated as the class valedictorian in 1932.
He worked for several years in the Chewelah area before entering the United States Army Corps Engineers in 1942, serving in North Africa and Italy.
After the war, he attended Kinman’s Business University in Spokane, and then returned to Chewelah, where he married Jesse Benjamin in 1947.
A few years later, the couple moved to Bakersfield, California where Bill worked as an office manager for a farm operations company.
In 1960 he went to work for the United States Post Office and retired in 1975.
After his wife passed in 1992 Bill returned to Chewelah, and resided there until 2013, when he moved to Buena Vista in Colville.
Throughout his life, Bill was an avid hunter and fisherman.
He enjoyed the outdoors, and had a special fondness for climbing local mountains in search of huckleberries.
He was always ready to play cards with any partners he could find.
Until the end, he played multiple games of pinochle everyday and usually won.
Bill will be remembered by many for his love of dancing, spinning many a lady around the dance floor at the local Eagles Lodge each week.
In addition to his wife, Jesse Peters, Bill was preceded in death by four sisters and five brothers.
He is survived by his brother, Allen Peters of Tacoma, WA; five generations of nieces and nephews throughout the country.
Local survivors include Mike (Trini) Peters of Evans, WA, Lois Peters, Patricia (Dennis) Roberts of Rice WA, Gloria Halonen of Spokane WA, and dear friend, Inis Stanard.
A Celebration of Life Potluck will be held at 1:00 p.m., Saturday, April 23, 2016 at the Colville Eagles’ Lodge.
Please visit the online memorial and sign the guestbook at www.danekasfuneralchapel.com. Danekas Funeral Chapel & Crematory has been entrusted with the arrangements.