Obituary

Amanda Marie Peters
Sunrise: December 18, 1946 Sunset: August 28, 2015
Today we are gathered to celebrate the life of Amanda Marie Peters Thomas, the great granddaughter of Chief Henry Kwina. Amanda grew up in Lummi, the youngest of four children of Marion and Aloysius Peters. She was a happy child running and playing in the fields and forest surrounding her home with her dog Pat running beside her. Summers were full of sunshine and laughter. She and the neighborhood kids went swimming everyday rain or shine. In June, when the tide was out, she poked under the rocks for squ-ah (grunters) bringing them home for the dinner table. She liked wading for crabs along the tidal flats of West Shore. Like many of the kids, she picked strawberries earning money to go to the movies. She helped friends sneek into the Mt. Baker Theater. She put her “Innocent” face on giving the hand signal to go go go. The Moonlight drive-in was her favorite especially on buck night. No one watched the show, instead they hung out at the snack bar. The boys stood around smoking while the girls popped their gum. Amanda loved rock n roll music and going to dances at the old gym. She went to school at Lummi Day School. However, as a young teen she went to live with her sister in Oakland returning to Lummi all grown up and graduating from Ferndale high school. Amanda worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Portland , Oregon while residing in Eagle Creek. She married Leonard, settling in Esquimalt, First Nations, Victoria, BC where she raised her family. She also worked in the band tribal office here. Amanda is survived by her two daughters, Korlette Bird of Kent and Maryann Quintasket (Trevor) of the family home. Amanda has nine grandchildren and one great grandson. Amanda was preceded in death by her mate Leonard Alexander Thomas, her father Aloysuis “Cotton” Peters, her mother Marion Kwina Peters, sisters Marlene Williams and Theresa Lincoln and her brother Joe.