Robert F. "Pete" Peters

Robert F. "Pete" Peters September 06, 2009 Robert Frank Pete Peters, 88, formerly of Columbus, died Sept. 5, 2009, at Story County Medical Center in Nevada, Iowa. Born May 9, 1921, in Chicago, Ill., he was the youngest of Paul and Martha Peters five children, two of whom died of influenza before he was born. Known then as Bobby, he grew up playing baseball and later lived in the shadow of Wrigley Field. When he was 17, his father, a pressman, was killed outside their house during a period of trade-union-related slayings. Pete then took on a variety of jobs, helping support his family. In 1942, he married Lola Karnberg. The same year, he was drafted into the U.S. Army, and he spent the duration of World War II stationed in McKinney, Texas. At his discharge in 1946, he had plans to travel to San Diego, Calif., to try out for a professional baseball team but instead took up a friends offer of a ticket home to his wife and son in Chicago. Within two weeks he had set up his own dental lab, and he maintained a career as a dental technician until retirement. The Peters, including children Gary (Melody) Peters and Susan (Jim) Dionne, settled in Torrance, Calif., in the late 1950s. Decades later, as Lolas health failed, Pete and Lola moved to Desert Hot Springs, Calif. After Lolas death, he continued as grandfather to Teresa Washington; Eric Hansen; and Jeremiah, Lola Joy and Sarah Peters. He returned to Torrance and, in 1981, married Marcia (Seward) Weekly, whose first husband had died in 1972. The marriage added three children, Martha (Robert) Elzer, Joyce Williams and Jean Stillman, and grandchildren Cindy and Dan Elzer, Leslie Schrimper, Brenda Witherspoon, Jason and Stephanie Stillman, and Ben and Chelsea Williams. After decades in California, Pete and Marcia moved in the early 1980s to Littleton, Colo., where they lived until 2001. They then moved to Columbus, Ind., where Marcia had lived until the 1950s. They moved to Ames, Iowa, in 2007. Besides the families combined five children and 13 grandchildren, Pete is survived by 17 great-grandchildren and five great-great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents, all his siblings, and one great-grandson. Funeral Information VISITATION: Will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Jewell-Rittman Family Funeral Home. GRAVESIDE SERVICE: With military rites will be at 11 a.m. Friday at Garland Brook Cemetery. DirectionsVisitation: Map to Funeral Home

Robert F. "Pete" Peters

September 6, 2009