Services will be held April 28 at St Joseph Catholic Church in Jefferson for John Peters, 82, of Jefferson. Burial will take place at the Iowa Veterans Cemetery in Adel at a later date.
John Robert Peters passed away April 23, 2022, at Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines. He was born August 30, 1939, in Fort Madison, the son of Robert and Dorothy (Schroeder) Peters. He grew up in Sioux City and graduated from Helan High School in 1958. On June 25, 1966, he married Marilyn M. Sallack at St. Mark Catholic Church in Niles, MI.
A hunting accident led to his lifelong passion of helping people. While waiting for surgery, a conversation between him and his anesthetist took him to Alexian Brothers School of Nursing in Chicago, IL. He then attended St. Mary in Springfield, IL, to become a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist. While helping save lives in Vietnam, he received the Army Commendation Medal for working in the operating room for 36 straight hours during the Tet Offensive. After serving his country, he practiced anesthesia in rural Iowa for 40-plus years. He was very proud of being a nurse.
Along the way, John and Marilyn raised four sons on an acreage near Independence, teaching them a solid work ethic and the value of family. He was a hardworking, honest, fair and loving husband and father. Gardening and horseback riding were his favorite hobbies. Actually, we are not sure if he enjoyed gardening, but it was a good way to feed a family with cheap labor inputs (ie. four sons). Every time a son left home the garden got smaller in size! He loved trail riding and went on rides in seven different states with the Black Hills of South Dakota being his favorite.
John loved God, his family and the United States of America! He was a lifetime member of the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars.
He was preceded in death by his parents and a sister, Mary Jo Petronis. Survivors include his wife Marilyn Peters of Jefferson; his sons Luke (Vonnie) of Indianola, Mark (Carrie) of Jefferson, Matt (Amy) of Crestwood, KY, and John (Mindy) of Doylestown, PA; grandchildren Joshua, Nicholas, Kyle, Clayton, Alexa, John Christopher and Maximilian; brother Charles Peters of Arizona; sisters Nancy Bohlke of Arizona and Judy (John) Hotchkiss-DeWitt of California; other relatives and friends.
In lieu of flowers, memorials are suggested to the VFW Post #9599 or Floyd Brown American Legion Post #11 scholarship fund.
The family is assisted by Slininger-Schroeder Funeral Home of Jefferson.
