Obituary for Barbara Stratton Peters
April 18, 1949 to September 7, 2023

Barbara was born on a beautiful spring day (April 18, 1949) in Pocatello, Idaho. She was the third of four children born to Margaret Harris Stratton and R. Wendell Stratton. As a child, she was very shy but had the best time growing up with her wonderful family. They lived in Pocatello until Barbara was 5 years old; then her father’s work took them to Price, Utah. There were many Italian and Greek families in that area and she loved the diversity of the community. She and her older siblings attended grade school at Notre Dame Catholic School. Just before the fifth grade, her family moved back to Pocatello, where she finished school, went to college, and started her first jobs in the Pocatello Public Library and the Career Planning and Placement Office at Idaho State University. She earned her BA degree in American Government in 1971 and her MAEd in Student Personnel Work in Higher Education in 1976 – both from Idaho State University.

In 1977, she left home in Idaho to take a job at Humboldt State University in the Career Planning and Placement Center. She worked at HSU for 30 years and made many life-long friendships with co-workers, students and faculty. Barbara’s shyness seemed to go away as she worked in this career. Her students were Science and Natural Resources majors, and she developed a love of the environment and conservation through them. After she retired from HSU in 2007, she continued in her profession by offering Resume Writing and Job Hunting workshops at both the Western Section and national conferences of The Wildlife Society. This gave her the opportunity to travel to new places in California Utah, Oregon and Hawaii. She “retired” again from this activity in 2017. The Western Section honored her with the Barrett A. Garrison “Outstanding Mentorship Award” at the 2017 conference.

In 1980, Barbara was thrilled to meet Tom Peters while singing in the Humboldt Chorale. Tom was always the special man who lit up her life – a match that lasted over 40 years - even though it took 4 years of being together before Tom proposed. They married in 1984 when Barbara was 35 and Tom was almost 39 – neither had been married before. They did not have children but met many young people over the years. In fact, Barbara kept in touch with many of these young people and former students. In addition to these activities, Tom and Barbara traveled throughout the northwest, Canada and Mexico – mostly to fish and enjoy beautiful places.

She and Tom raised four English Springer Spaniels – Mabel, Maggie, Buster and Maizey. Maggie had two litters of puppies and Tom and Barbara found great homes for them. In fact, they felt that they increased their “litter of friends” with the puppies they had. Over the years they enjoyed three puppy reunions to the delight of everyone involved.

Friendships and family have dominated Barbara’s life. She always loved getting to know people and became an instant friend with many of the people she met. She had a broad spectrum of friends of all ages and backgrounds – this enriched her own life.

After she retired, she was involved with the Hospice of Humboldt Auxiliary, local and national politics and community activities. In her activities, she worked toward fairness, social justice and equality issues for all people.

Barbara is survived by her wonderful husband, Tom Peters; sister-in-law Christa (Mike) Stratton, sister Sue (Les) Short, sister Deborah (Ted) Flandro, nieces Jennifer Petersen and Erika Petersen and great niece Kaitlin Chacon, as well as nieces & nephews in Tom’s family. She was preceded in death by her parents (Margaret Stratton, Wendell Stratton and his 2nd wife Billie Stratton).

She was also preceded in death by her parents Margaret Stratton, Wendell Stratton, and his second wife Billie, her brother Mike Stratton and her brothers-in-law Ted Flandro and Les Short. She was also preceded by Tom’s parents, Henry and Carol Peters, his siblings Lynn, Jim, and Christopher Peters, and his nephew Sean.

Donations to the Food Bank and/or the Sequoia Humane Society would be greatly appreciated.

— Prepared by Barbara S. Peters, Sept. 18, 2017

The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Barbara Peters’ loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here. Email news@lostcoastoutpost.com.