Wilfred "Fritz" Albert Peters, 87 a longtime resident of Verboort community died, Monday, May 11th, 2015 at his home in Verboort.

Wilfred was born May 13, 1927 in Forest Grove, son of the late Albert and Catherine (Hillecke) Peters. He was raised and received his education at Visitation Grade School, later graduating from Visitation High School. He met his wife when she moved from Minnesota to Verboort in 1949. He was a life long parishioner of Visitation Catholic Church and belonged to the Knights of Columbus.

He was united in marriage to Blanche Bernadette VandenBerghe on June 13, 1951 in Butler, Minnesota. Following their marriage, they made their home in the Verboort community. Fritz was preceded in death by his wife, Blanche on September 29, 1999 after celebrating over forty-eight years of marriage together.

He was a longtime farmer raising all nine of his children on the family farm. He was recognized as the Oregon Soil Conservation Farmer of the Year in 1971 and later served as a Director of the Washington County Soil and Water Conservation District from 1974-1978. Among his special interests, he enjoyed fishing, playing cards with friends, camping and attending both the St. Paul Rodeo and the Pendleton Roundup.

Fritz was also preceded in death by his parents, Albert and Catherine Peters, his daughter, June Coussens, his grandson Addison Peters, two brothers, Leander Peters and Stanley Peters and two sisters, Barbara Peters and Tats Schmidlin.

Survivors include four sons and their spouses; Greg and Jeannie Peters, of Cornelius; Bruce and Josie Peters, of Mead, Colorado; Patrick and Melanie Peters, of Forest Grove; Bradley and Debbie Peters, of Maple Valley, Washington; his four daughters and their spouses; Brenda and John Braxmeyer, of Forest Grove; Vivian and Mike McCarthy, of Forest Grove; Roxanne and Brian Coussens, of Banks; Carol and Joseph Chagnon, of Albany; his son-in-law, Paul Coussens, of Hillsboro. Also surviving are his four sisters and a brother-in-law, Anna Marie Moore, of Forest Grove; Helen Elliott, of Roy; Berna Reimers, of Hillsboro and Kathleen Sahlfeld and her husband, Gus, of Hillsboro; his four brothers and sisters-in-law, Norrie and Bea Peters, of Roy, Oregon; Lawrence and Jackie Peters, of Verboort, Oregon; Paul Peters, of Forest Grove, Oregon and Kenny and Arlene Peters, of Roy, Oregon.

Also surviving are twenty-eight grandchildren, four great grandchildren and sixty-eight nieces and nephews.