JEFFERSON HILLS, Pa. – Michael Lawrence Peters, the eldest of three children, was born on Nov. 28, 1956, in New Jersey while his father, Laurence, was stationed at Fort Dix, NJ. He is predeceased by his parents, Laurence Peters who died April 19, 1966 in Vietnam (the Peters Baseball Field is named after him in Waterville, Maine) and Marie Bernadette (Michaud) Peters who died Sept. 29, 2017. Mike passed on Monday, Oct. 26, 2021, a little after 10:50 p.m., in a tragic trucking and train accident in Jefferson Hills, Pa.

Michael was a miracle. When he was four-weeks old on Christmas Eve, while visiting his father’s parents, his mother fed him, burped him and put him to bed. She checked on him about one hour later. She found him turning blue, he had regurgitated his milk. His parents and grandparents slapped him on his back trying to dislodge what was in his throat. He was rushed to the hospital where they siphoned the blockage, and he started to breathe on his own. The miracle was that he grew to be perfectly normal and bright.

The second miracle was when he died. It is believed that something must have happened in the cab. Could it have been a heart attack, stroke or aneurysm while driving the freightliner tractor pulling a dump trailer full of scrap medal? “If” that happened, then that truck was a runaway rig. If so, the thing that stopped the truck was the train. God is good. If the truck had hit perhaps a passenger vehicle, then someone else might have died, possibly creating more fatherless orphans. For that I am grateful.

Michael is survived by his brother Thomas, and his wife Lois (Woodley) Peters and nephew Jordan and niece Kayleen Peters. He also leaves his sister Nancy and her husband Joseph Cabaup, and many cousins, three aunts and two uncles.

He joined the army in 1977, 82nd Airborne Division. He was a master auto mechanic. Mike was trained in auto mechanics at the New Hampshire Technical College in Berlin, N.H., and also in airplane mechanics at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Dayton Beach, Fla.

He spent 10 years in the trucking industry taking a break to take care of his mother at home who was suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease.

He was buried in Saint Francis of Assisi Cemetery in Waterville, Maine. Mike is buried next to his parents. A Memorial Mass and a Celebration of Life is planned for the spring.

Mike lived the Boy Scout laws. He learned them from his Boy Scout leaders. His BSA leaders showed him how to become a man. Males need other males to become a mature man. Mike was a handsome man, loyal, friendly, an opinionated pain in the butt, a patriot, a pack rat, and a gentle giant, and my Big Brother.

I’m proud to be your little sister, Big Brother.

Good bye you big lug nut.