JOHN PETERS

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JOHN PETERS

Suddenly on June 11, 2021, John Peters passed away at Seven Oaks Hospital.
John was predeceased by his wife Joyce Peters (nee Andersen); parents, Martin Peters and Luise Peters (nee Bergen); sister Tina (Katharina) Ostermann (nee Peters); nephew Kurt Ostermann; cousin Bill Ulrich; aunt Helene Ulrich (nee Bergen); brothers, Peter and Heinrich who died in infancy. John is survived by his daughters, Susan Peters and Tanya MacKenzie (nee Peters) (husband William); grandsons, Ronan and Tristan MacKenzie; nephew Scott Ostermann; cousin Tina Quiring (nee Ulrich), along with many wonderful friends and relatives.
John was born Johann Martin Peters on September 24, 1938, in Gnadenthal, Dnepropetrowsk, Ukraine. The family followed the retreating German army to Germany, becoming refugees, before they sailed from Hamburg to Halifax in November 1948; John fondly remembered sliding around the steamship's ballroom. The family lived with relatives who sponsored them in Plum Coulee, MB, before relocating to Winnipeg. The happiest days of John's youth were spent hanging out with friends at the gravel pit swimming hole by Bird's Hill.
John worked at many jobs, including at Paulin Chambers candy factory, as a freelance gag writer, and finally as an electrician for the Canadian Pacific Railway. After meeting Joyce Andersen at a dance, the pair married March 18, 1967, built a house in the woods near East Selkirk, and were together until her death in 2010. John doted on his two daughters, ferrying them to basketball games, playing Scrabble and teaching the girls to drive.
Proudly criss-crossing North America on car trips, John drove with his parents and sister to the Rockies, with his cousin Bill to California, and then from Alaska to Texas with his wife and daughters. John loved dogs, especially family dog Bear, cooking borscht, Star Trek and Louis L'Amour novels. At the family's cottage near Beaconia, he grew cherry tomatoes, "borrowed" the neighbour's dog, suntanned at Grand Beach, and introduced his grandsons to birdwatching.
Cremation has taken place and a Celebration of Life may be held later.

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Jul 10, 2021