Edward Lee Peters

Ed passed away on January 14, 2020, in Olympia, Wash. at the age of 87.
Ed wrote a brief autobiography of his life in 1993 as part of a 593-page genealogy Some Desendants of Michael Peters he prepared and published at that time. This is what he wrote, with minor modifications.
Born on 11 January, 1933 at Wenatchee, Wash.  He grew up at Manson, attending elementary and high school there.  He spent two years in college at Washington State University followed by two years in the Army Signal Corps.  Returning to WSU he obtained a BS in Electrical Engineering from Washington State University in 1959.  He worked for Collins Radio Co. in Burbank, Calif. for a year and then for the Boeing Co. in Seattle until he retired in March 1988.  He then built a house in Manson, Wash., and moved there in October 1988 with his second wife, Barbara.  He was a mountain climber and member of the Seattle Mountaineers for many years, serving as chairman of the Climbing Committee, Member of the Board and one year as Vice President.  He is a member of the American Alpine Club.  He was editor of the Seattle Mountaineers climbing textbook, 4th edition, Freedom of the Hills, which was published in four countries, the U.S., Canada, Great Britain and Australia.  Later it was translated into Spanish and reprinted in Mexico.  He is co-author and publisher of a book for those beginning gemstone faceting entitled The Faceting Handbook published in 1985.  The first printing of the book sold out and the book is now in its second printing.  He and his wife Barbara continue to go to the Eldorado Sapphire mine each year, as they have for the past 14 years, to dig their own sapphires.
Here are some personal details missing from Ed’s write-up.
Ed was the son of Modest and Dorothy Peters of Manson, Wash.  As a boy he developed a fascination with radios and all things electronic.  At this time electronic components were of human scale and Ed had a workshop next to his bedroom for hands-on experimentation with electronic components.  He also had keen mechanical skills, demonstrated by piecing together his own automobile when he was in high school.  Getting the body of a 1936 Ford Coupe for free from a local orchard and buying an engine and transmission from a local auto junk yard, he put the car together and got it running.  During his sapphire mining years, he and brother John designed and built light-weight, collapsible aluminum shakers for separating pebbles from dirt.
He married Claudia Debar of Manson in 1956 and they had two children, Cynde born in 1957 and Gary born in 1960.
In 1978 he married Barbara Acey, who also worked at Boeing.  After retirement, they lived in Manson, Vancouver, South Puyallup and Olympia.  They traveled around the United States including Alaska and Hawaii.  While living in Manson, Ed hosted annual cousins’ reunions of the Peters family who came from around Washington and from as far as Califoria.
His wife Barbara passed away in August 2019.
He is survived by his daughter Cynde Lund of Bothell, son Gary Lund of Seattle, several grandchildren and great-grandchildren, sister Barbara of Seattle, brother Don (Marlene) of Spokane, brother John of Manson, and his wife Barbara’s daughters Janice, April, and Terri and grandchildren and great- grandchildren.
Memorial donations may be made to the Peters Family Scholarship Fund c/o Community Foundation of North Central Washington, 9 S. Wenatchee Ave, Wenatchee WA 98801, to benefit graduates of Manson High School.