Obituary for Stephen Karl Peters - East Idaho News
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Obituary

Stephen Karl Peters

August 25th, 1956 - April 26th, 2025

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Sergeant Major Stephen Karl Peters passed away in his home in Sugar City, Idaho, April 26, 2025 after a year-long battle with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). He was 68 years old.

Stephen was born August 25, 1956, in Homestead, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, to Edward Sylvester Peters and Lillian Grace Turek. He joined an older sister Karin Marlene and brother David Robert as the third and youngest child in their family. Steve’s father worked as a steel worker and his mother was a registered nurse. 

Steve grew up in Wilmerding, a small community snuggled up south-east of Pittsburgh and home to George Westinghouse’s Airbrake Company. Steve grew up loving football and his Pittsburgh Steelers and Penguins Hockey teams were aggressively championed throughout his life.

When Steve was 14 years old, he visited his big brother Dave who was living at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. From the moment they were picked up at the airport, Steve demanded to see the soldiers. He was severely disappointed to find out it was a medical hospital post, few of the personnel there were in uniform, and that they were definitely not marching. He exclaimed, “What kind of an Army is that?!” Dave was forced to seek out a training unit of new recruits drilling with their fatigues on before Steve was satisfied with the readiness of the US Army. 

Steve joined the Army with special permission from his parents while he was yet 17 years old. It was a lifetime commitment that he honored and treasured throughout his life. Steve completed 42 years serving as a Ranger, Special Forces Green Beret, graduating from Airborne Jump School, and completed 4 year-long combat tours of duty including Iraq’s Desert Storm and over a dozen Special Military assignments. Several of these missions were counter terrorism missions in the jungles of south-east Asia. Steve held the highest rank in the Army outside that of a commissioned officer; the rank of Sergeant Major. Steve never wanted to be one of those “officer types” and was firmly committed to doing his part on the ground to keep his men alive by supplying them quickly with critical needs. He was the guy that made sure everything around him was working efficiently and effectively.

Early in his career Steve would train recruits out in the jungle and then return for a two week leave only to leave with another group back to the boonies. He repeated this behavior so many times that his superiors eventually sent a team out to the jungle to retrieve him and force him to take a break. This really bothered Steve, and when he got home, he exclaimed to his family, “They made me leave the jungle! Why would they do that to me?!” His brother Dave said, “He was just a bit too much Army for me!”

When Steve’s brother Dave was finally drafted for a tour of duty in Vietnam, his worried family encouraged him to be careful and to “try and stay alive.” Steve’s loving advice to his brother was simply, “Go and kill them all!”

Steve was introduced to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints while serving in the military in Florida. A fellow member of the church introduced him to the missionaries and Steve again made a lifetime commitment that would shape his future. He was baptized on April 16, 1976. Steve learned about a church-run school in the west named Ricks College and he became determined to enroll.

Steve arrived in Rexburg, Idaho in 1979 and quickly adapted to a culture that was quite foreign to that in which he had grown up. He could not believe that a young man in Rexburg could cruise Main Street in a pick-up truck with a girl that he actually liked. It was a violation of his standards and understandings of chivalrous protocol. That was a job for a hot blue Camaro. He became involved in college life, becoming a Ricks College cheerleader and member of the Valhalla Modern Dance Team. He enrolled in pre-engineering classes and carried heavy loads. It was while at Ricks College that he would meet his future wife. Stephen and JoAnn Hibbert were married in the Salt Lake Temple, February 18, 1983.

He loved the Scouting program and coaching Grid Kid football as well as watching his kids playing soccer. He loved his “little soldiers” and was proud of his boys’ military service. Somehow Brandy was able to withstand his constant recruitment efforts.

Steve was a hard worker and was determined to instill that value in his children. It was never good enough to only get 4 cords of wood at one point a log truck showed up with 16 cords onboard to chop up and prepare for winter.

Steve had a strong sense of personal conviction to do what was right and often stood toe to toe and button to button against upper brass to defend what he felt would be best in a situation. He was always concerned with proper protocol and could bark the rulebook at superior officers and silence them.

Steve was widely known for his operational skills setting up mission plans and logistics to maximize effectiveness in the use of scarce military resources. His men knew and recognized who it was that was keeping them alive.

Steve served at the INL in nuclear security for over 37 years and treasured his association with his coworkers.

Steve has always been full of gratitude for close friends and family that have supported him and his family in the various missions they have needed to perform as part of his calling here on earth. Steve’s family loves and appreciates you for your enduring faith.

Steve was preceded in death by his parents Ed and Lillian Peters and leaves behind a beloved posterity which include his wife of 42 years, JoAnn Reneé Hibbert Peters, his twin sons Karl Hans (Nicole) and Kurt Eugene, Samuel Sylvester, Sidney Wayne (Emily), Brandy Paige (William) Miller, and 10 grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, May 1, 2025, at the Sugar City Stake Center, 25 West 3rd South. The family will receive friends Wednesday evening from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at Flamm Funeral Home in Rexburg, and Thursday from 10:00 to 10:45 a.m. at the stake center prior to services. Interment will be in the Sugar City Cemetery where military honors will take place under the direction of the Idaho Honor Guard and Madison County Veterans.

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