Mrs .Vada Ruth Peters

Vada Ruth Buerge Peters was born on July 12, 1926, to Ira and Hettie Blosser Buerge in Wauseon, Ohio. She peacefully went to meet her Savior on November 1, 2023, at the age of ninety-seven.

As the oldest of four children, she helped care for her younger siblings, forming lifelong skills in caring for others. She attended school in Pettisville, Ohio, and graduated high school in 1944. Upon confession of her sins, she was baptized into the Church of God in Christ, Mennonite, on March 7, 1939, and spent her life serving the Lord to the best of her ability.

In her youth, she took a correspondence course to learn nursing and moved to St. Petersburg, Florida to work in a hospital. While she was there, a young man asked for her hand, and she was married to Herbert Peters on June 27,1948, in Pettisville, Ohio, moving to Harrison, Michigan to begin married life. One son was born to this union.

Dad and Mom were led to mission work in Chihuahua, Mexico, and spent the years of 1954-1962 living there, operating a boarding house for native schoolchildren, and Mom became nurse and midwife for many people in need. They adopted a baby in Mexico and took him home to Michigan with them.

Mom lived a full life, helping Dad with the business and fostering more than fifty children over the years. She formed countless friendships and made an effort to keep up these relationships throughout life. A very difficult time for her was when their adopted son John was tragically killed as a young man.

In 1993 Dad and Mom moved to Murray, Kentucky, and adopted a former foster daughter at the same time. Their sunset years were spent having company, gardening, and sharing the little they had with anyone in need. They lived a simple life characterized by economy and practicality. Mom had a heart for the downtrodden and the wayward and was never afraid to say a word for the Lord. She often spoke her mind, but those close to her learned to recognize her soft heart beneath the surface.

After seventy-one years of marriage, Dad was called home to Glory on January 29, 2020. Mom filled her time alone with phone calls and crocheting many shawls to donate to the Church sewing circle, but her greatest desire was to meet her Jesus. We find comfort in knowing she is at rest.

Left to remember her are one son, August and Kathy Peters, Sedalia, Kentucky; one daughter, Leah and Michael Doud, Essexville, Michigan; nine grandchildren, twenty-one great-grandchildren, and four great-great-grandchildren; one sister, Shirley Buerge, Sarasota, Florida; one brother, Harold Buerge, Kernersville, North Carolina; four sisters-in-law: Edna Peters, Helen Peters, Ellyn Peters, all of Ithaca, Michigan; Donna and Kurt Fellows, Alma, Michigan; and many friends.

Preceding her in death were her husband, one son, parents, parents-in-law, one sister, six brothers-in-law, and four sisters-in-law.

The funeral service for Mrs. Peters will be held on Monday, November 6, 2023, at 10:30 a.m. at the Harmony Mennonite Church, 83 Honeybee Lane, Murray, Kentucky, with the burial to follow in the Harmony Mennonite Church Cemetery. Visitation will be held on Sunday, November 5, 2023, from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. at the Harmony Mennonite Church.

Expressions of sympathy can be made to the Harmony Mennonite Church, 83 Honeybee Lane, Murray, Kentucky 42071 or to Hickory Woods Senior Living Community, 84 Utterback Road, Murray, Kentucky 42071 in memory of Mrs. Vada Ruth Peters.

Online condolences can be made at, www.jhchurchill.com

The J.H. Churchill Funeral Home and Cremation Services are in charge of arrangements.