Mom left this life to join her husband, Jack, (John Wesley Barton Hughes) in heaven on September 3, 2019 at 5:28 am.

Mom was the third daughter born to Eva Herick Peterson and Leland Peterson. She was the 5th of 7 children. The first son, Gene died at 5 years and the first daughter, Verna, only lived 2 days. Eva and Leland adopted Evelyn, then Paddy, Doris, Mabel, Doug and Pete were born into the family. Mom was preceded by all but her closest sister, Doris Markham, who lives in Morton, WA. She is also preceded by one granddaughter.

Mom and Dad had 5 children, John Laurance (and Fay) of Shelton WA, Verna Jill Waltenspiel (widow of Tom) of Oakland, OR, Wesley Erwin (and Chris) of Canyonville, OR, Trudi Deen Moore (and Mike) of Days Creek, OR and Wendy Darlene Fredlund (and Gary) of Roseburg, OR. She also had 11 grandchildren, 17 great grandchildren and 5 great great grandchildren. There are also many nieces and nephews and one remaining sister-in-law, Joan Zumwalt of Gresham OR. Add to this the countless number of kids, grands, greats and great greats that mom claimed as her own.

Mom was born December 22, 1926 in Selby, South Dakota. She didn't remember how long they lived in Selby, but she did remember living in Aberdeen, South Dakota until she was 9 ½. In July of 1936, her father bought a touring car, hired a driver, loaded everything they could into the car, along with his wife and himself, the driver and the children, Evelyn, Paddy, Doris and Mabel and headed for Oregon. One of mom's best memories of that trip was the many long tunnels. She loved the lights and honking the horn as they went through, which was necessary as there were no lights in the tunnels at that time. To the end of her life, mom loved horns honking in tunnels. They got to visit Yellowstone National Park when it was new and Mt. Rushmore, which was only partly done. This must have been quite the adventure for a 9 ½ year old girl.

The Peterson family moved between Portland and Eugene - Springfield many, many times over the years. They lived in Springfield when mom met dad in 1942 at the mature age of 15. Mom had seen dad around and was attracted to him before she actually met him, but the first time he pulled into their drive she "hated" him because she thought he was another Jack that she really did dislike. The next time he came by, he brought his 13-year-old sister with him. Mom and Joan immediately hit it off and that made mom decide this Jack must be ok.

In March of 1943, Dad went into the Navy. Mom came to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho to visit when he returned to Farragut Training Base after his boot camp leave. On June 24, 1943, while walking around town and sitting by the lake, they decided to get married and proceeded to do so. She was 16!! Mom soon returned to Eugene to live with her parents while dad was at sea.

When Dad's ship was torpedoed in 1944, mom went to San Francisco so they could be together. When he shipped out again, just before their first anniversary, she moved home to Portland and worked in the Portland Woolen Mills until dad came home for good in November of 1945.

Soon, mom and dad moved south to the Eugene - Springfield area where dad started diesel mechanic school and mom worked in a laundry. Dad's brother, Tude, who was living in Canyonville and working at his father-in-law's sawmill, kept after dad to move down and make the big bucks. It wasn't long before they headed south, again.

This was about the time mom quit working outside the home. This is when the babies started coming. The four oldest came pretty much every 18 months, then a 4-year break before the last baby. Five babies in ten years. That's a lot of babies.

Mom worked hard all her life, making homes out of some pretty questionable houses. Some of her transformations were akin to the fairy godmother, the pumpkin and the carriage. Mom's magic wand was love. She loved dad to distraction and she loved her babies. No matter how big the cracks in the walls or roof, mom would stuff them full of love and newspaper and everything was fine.

Dad's dad, (Pop) and the Lein Brothers discovered Uranium up above Tiller. No doubt, we were all going to be rich. Pop converted 3 school busses into 3 early version motor homes and in the spring of 1955, we all went up the River. Pop in one bus, The Lein Brothers in one and Mom, Dad, Jack, Jill, Wes and Trudi in the last one. Shortly, they learned the Uranium wasn't of a high enough grade for the government to want it, so no one got rich. That summer created in the whole family, a life-long love for the South Umpqua River. Mom and dad lived on the river in a variety of places until September of 1974.