Avis de décès de Valda-James Peters - Nécrologie - MesAieux.com

PETERS, Valda James, passed away in Sebring, Fla., August 13, 2009, 95 years to the day of her birth August 13, 1914. She was born in Princeton, Fla., just north of Homestead, to John McDuffy James of White Springs, Fla. and Eula Genora Rigsby of Whigham, Ga. After the death of her father in 1916, she moved to Miami where she was raised. She graduated from Miami Senior High School in 1934, only after being "threatened with severe bodily harm by her mother." She then became a dressmaker to weather the hardships of the Depression, a skill that she excelled in and enjoyed until her late 80' s. In 1941, VaIda married Michael Floyd Peters and had two sons, Michael Floyd Jr. and Jan Frederic. In 1951, the family relocated to Hialeah where she resided until 1986 when she moved to Sebring. Valda was a unique person, a physically beautiful woman who was fiercely independent and self-sufficient, intelligent, witty, unpretentious, straight forward and candid, kind, generous; loving and completely devoted to her family. With ancestors that settled in Florida in the two Seminole Wars, she was proud to consider herself a Florida Cracker. She loved to travel North America and Europe and thought nothing of leaving on a moment' s notice. She had a southern attitude of always giving gifts to those she visited or visited her. She was preceded in death by her parents; two brothers; and a sister and her husband, Michael and her youngest son, Jan. She is survived by her oldest son, Michael (Margie) of Tallahassee, Fla.; her grandchildren, Michael and John of Tallahassee, Jason, Morgana and Mason of Germany, and Eve, her only great-grandaughter of Germany. Valda now resides with our Lord and can once again walk barefoot through the grass, tend her flowers, citrus and Key Lime trees, shell the new crop of pecans, and concoct delicious delicacies for her family and friends with whom she is now reunited. "She was going for 100 and got damn close." May she rest in eternal peace. Her ashes will be scattered in the places she loved throughout Florida and Georgia. A memorial service will take place at 11 a.m. Thursday, August 20, 2009, at Dowden Funeral Home Chapel in Sebring with the Rev. James Lighty officiating. The family will receive friends 10:30-11 a.m. Arrangements are under the direction of Dowden Funeral Home Sebring, Fla. Dowden Funeral Home 2605 Bayview Street Sebring, FL 33870 (863) 385-1546