PETERS, Dick J. 1871-1956

PETERS, JASPERS

Posted By: Tammy (email)
Date: 1/27/2015 at 21:10:49

Dick J. Peters, Former Mayor and Supervisor, Dead

Dick J. Peters, 85, former chairman of the county board of supervisors, prominent Wellsburg business man, the town's 10th mayor and lifelong resident of the community, passed away quietly at his home at 10 p.m. Friday of heart failure.

Funeral services were held at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday in the home and later in the Second Christian Reformed Church, with Rev. John H. Olthoff in charge.

Burial was in the Wellsburg Reformed Church cemetery, beside his parents and an infant son.

Pallbearers were six of his nephews. Jake H. Peters, Harm H. Peters, Jerry H. Peters, Edwin Peters, August H. Ascher and Jake Jaspers. Flower attendants were Mrs. M. M. Boeke and Mrs. Harold Geerdes.

Music for the service was provided by the men's quartet of the church, composed of Adolph Deters, Henry W. Ross, Henry Kannegieter and Warren Anderson, accompanied by Mrs. Ray Toomsen on the organ.

Obituary
Dick J. Peters was born April 10, 1871 on a farm in Shiloh township located north of the present Jake Peters farm. He was the second eldest child of Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Peters.

He was united in marriage with Aafka Jaspers on Oct. 21, 1896. Shortly after his marriage, Mr. Peters entered the farm machinery and hardware business in Wellsburg. His store was located on main street where Hook's grocery is today.

A few years later he sold the hardware store to Arend Meyer, and went into the grain and livestock buying business in which he was engaged during most of his active lifetime.

At one time or another he owned grain elevators at Wellsburg (where the present Snittjer Grain Company is now located), Cleves, Robertson, and Grundy Center.

Mr. Peters twice served on the county board of supervisors, representing the Shiloh-Melrose township district. His first term on the board was from 1907 to 1909, and he again served from 1911 to 1914.

He was elected chairman of the board of supervisors both in 1913 and 1914. In 1915 his place on the board was taken by George Schwarck.

Dick Peters served on the Wellsburg town council several years, and was elected mayor of the town for one term beginning in 1922 and ending two years later.

He was one of the original organizers of the old Wellsburg Consolidated School in 1909, and later served on the school board for many years. He was a member of the school board in the early 1920's when the gymnasium and assembly addition was built onto the former high school building.

Mr. Peters also was a faithful servant of the churches in the community. He was a member of the committee that built the present Reformed Church parsonage in 1918, and in 1920 served with a group that organized the Second Christian Reformed Church.

He retired from business in the 1930's but continued to be interested in community affairs until poor health the last few years, combined with his advanced age, curtailed his activities.

On April 9th he suffered a heart attack from which he never recovered, and at 10 p.m. Friday, April 27 he passed away peacefully. He was 85 years and 17 days old at the time of his death.

Dick Peters was one of Wellsburg's greatest boosters, few contributed more to its successful growth and probably no other resident was more widely acquainted around the county.

His death comes as a grievous loss not only to his family, but the community of Wellsburg and Grundy county.

Surviving are his widow and two children, Mrs. Fred Potter of Wellsburg, and Harm, a grain broker at St. Louis, Mo., two grandchildren, Mrs. Jake Lindaman of Wellsburg and Janet Peters, St. Louis, also two great-grandchildren.

Other survivors include two sisters and four brothers, Mrs. August Ascher, Sr., Wellsburg; Jake Peters of Minneapolis, Minn., Anno Peters of Parkersburg, John Peters, Wellsburg, Ubbe Peters of Steamboat Rock and Mrs. Anna White, Austin, Minn.

He was preceded in death by his parents, an infant son, and one brother, Harm.

--The Grundy Register (Grundy Center, Iowa), 3 May 1956, pg 1, 19