JERRY JAMES PETER, age 86, passed away peacefully after a valiant battle with congestive heart failure, in Bay City, Texas, on February 6, 2012, while surrounded by his family.
Born in Wallis, Texas, on April 22, 1925, to Louis William Peter and Bessie Rose Parma. After graduating from Wallis High School in 1942, he worked at Todd Shipyard in Galveston repairing war damaged ships until he was old enough to join the service. He then joined the Merchant Marines and served during World War II as a Boiler Fireman and Jr. Engineer on Liberty Ships. He traveled the world until 1947 and then began working as a carpenter for his father.
Jerry met the love of his life and wife of 63 years, Linda, when she came to Wallis to teach school. They married and began their life together in Wallis.
After marriage he worked in the oil fields as a rough-neck and was on a crew that drilled one of the first offshore oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico. In 1957 Jerry began work for Phillips Petroleum and he and Linda moved to Van Vleck, Texas where they raised their three children. The majority of his career was with Phillips primarily working in the Alki Unit where he retired after 27 years at the position of Stillman. On his days off he loved to fish & flounder in Matagorda Bay and hunt deer in the Fall.
Jerry also ran a herd of cattle and grew pecans at his place in Cedar Lane, which he continued after retirement. His interest in genealogy led him to travel to the Czech Republic several times. He could speak and write Czech and took great delight in Sunday telephone calls to the friends he made on his trips.
Jerry is survived by his wife, Texana "Linda" Peter; his daughters, Mary Peter Cudd & husband Michael of West Columbia and Helen Peter of Houston; his son, Louis William Peter & wife Debbie; four granddaughters, Mary Helene Toth, Elizabeth Texana Anderson, Katherine Lee Peter, Rebecca Lynn Peter; four great-grandaughters and sister, Florence Svoboda.
Friends are cordially invited to gather with the family and share remembrances of Jerry from four to six o'clock in the evening, followed by a rosary at 6:30 o'clock in the evening on Tuesday, the 7th day of February, at Taylor Bros. Funeral Home, Bay City, Texas.
The funeral service is to be conducted at two o'clock in the afternoon on Wednesday the 8th day of February, 2012, at Holy Cross Catholic Church, Bay City, Texas. Honorary Pallbearers are Buddy Greer, Leonard Ferguson, Roy Clegg, Alvin Marek, Mark Clark, Johnny Reuther, Bill Jahnsen, Mike Cudd, Ross Toth, and Fred Holub.
In lieu of customary remembrances, the family suggests one's kind consideration of donating to the Texas Czech Heritage and Cultural Center; P. O. Box 6, LaGrange, Texas, or Holy Cross Catholic School, Bay City, Texas.