Elizabeth "Betty" Frances Peters

Betty Peters, aged 85, passed peacefully at Schneidmiller Hospice House in the early morning hours of May 25th, 2025, in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, where she spent the last 49 years of her life.

Betty was born September 29th, 1939 to Harris and Minnie Jones in Brainerd, Crow Wing, Minnesota, the eighth of nine children. She spent her childhood surrounded by family in the Crow Wing area. She often spoke of her time spent learning her Grandma Thomas’s stories, recipes, and midwifery. Some of Betty’s fondest memories were going to relatives’ farms, playing with her siblings and cousins, fishing, water skiing at Bar Harbor on Gull Lake, and learning to play the organ.

At 19, Betty went to nursing school in Hinsdale, Illinois and worked at a Chicago area hospital. She enjoyed getting to know her patients and their diverse backgrounds, exploring the city, and going dancing in Chicago in her spare time. It was there that she expanded her musical repertoire and picked up many of the songs and genres she’d love for the rest of her life.

She then moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, where she put her grandma’s wisdom to use as a postpartum nurse. She met Marshall “Pete” Peters in 1959 and they were married April 18th, 1964. The couple built their first home together in Hudson, Wisconsin in 1966 and adopted their first son, Paul, later that year, then Jon in 1969.

In 1971, Pete and Betty followed one of her sisters, Audrey Kelley, to Kansas City, Kansas, and in 1976, they settled down in north Idaho, where they raised their sons. Pete and Betty both fell in love with the northwest, taking their sons and friends on camping trips on Steamboat Creek every summer, hunting, fishing, and taking any opportunity to just drive through the mountains. They were always eager to find a new campsite or show an old favorite one to any family and friends who were in the area. Pete’s ashes were scattered on the St. Joe River in Avery, Idaho, in 2021 near his favorite hunting spot.

Betty worked as a home care nurse throughout most of her career, a role she held dear. She spoke about her home care patients with the same fondness she had for her family. At the end of her career, she worked for the Kootenai County Treasurer’s office, where she befriended nearly everyone in the courthouse. After retiring from the county in 2003, Betty worked part time for the Idaho Parks Department, took on several part time home care patients, and volunteered with the Hospice Thrift Store, VFW, and New Beginnings, among other organizations.

Betty lived the last 7 years at Legends Park Assisted Living, where she continued to take care of anyone who needed it, form close friendships, and swap stories, jewelry, and wall art. She cherished her relationships with former coworkers, neighbors, and patients, welcomed her children’s and grandchildren’s friends and partners into her family, and befriended the nurses who took care of her and her family in old age. She always spent as much time as she could with her siblings, children, grandchildren and, later, great grandchildren, passing on her stories, skills, knowledge, sense of humor, and love. Betty will be dearly missed.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Minnie Margaret Thomas Jones and Harris H. Jones, husband of 56 years, Marshall “Pete” James Peters, son, Paul Jeffrey Peters, sisters, Helen “Billie” Lucille Schroepfer, Audrey Maxine Kelley, and Joyce Lorraine Discher, and brothers, Merle Harris Jones, Boyd Manley Jones, and Thomas “Tommy” Rodney Jones. Betty is survived by her sisters, Dorothy Rasch and Harriet Mayfield, son, Jon Peters, grandchildren, Travis Schierman, Emily Peters, and Holly Peters, 4 great granddaughters, and countless dear friends.

A memorial service will be held at Legends Park Assisted Living (1820 Legends Pkwy, Coeur d'Alene, ID) on Saturday, June 21 at 2:00 PM, officiated by the Rev. Father Len MacMillan. Her ashes will be interred in the Veterans Memorial Wall at Evergreen Cemetery (Post Falls, ID) alongside her son, Paul, and brother, Merle. Flowers can be delivered to Legends for the service.