Doreen M. Peeters

Greenfield, Massachusetts
Doreen M. Peeters, 48, of 5 Temple Avenue, died Saturday evening, November 25, 2017 at Baystate Franklin Medical Center, 164 High Street, following a period of declining health. She was born in Montague, Massachusetts, on July 25, 1969, daughter to Richard G. and Janice M. (Hawes) Peeters. Doreen enjoyed playing ball, music, puzzles, playing cards, telling jokes, being with her friends, animals, fishing with Dad, and loved to take rides with the family. And she loved eating! Doreen’s favorite treat was a Happy Meal at McDonald’s, comprised of a Hamburg and French fries. She dined there so often, that she earned “frequent frier miles”!!! Birthdays and holidays with Doreen were always so special, lots of clapping. Over the years she was involved in Special Olympics, Buddy Baseball, attended Camp Kewanee, The Salvation Army Day Camp and served as an intern at Channing Bete Company in South Deerfield.
Associations who helped to enhance Doreen’s life in so many ways are The United ARC, Life skills, Baraco and Whole Children. Doreen loved going to Life Skills every day and we will be forever grateful that she had the opportunity to enjoy this wonderful caring organization and the people who take care of people like Doreen every day. There she had parties, received Occupational, Physical, and Sensory therapy. She got to hear music and see the puppy dog which she absolutely loved. She was encouraged to do things she would not of had the opportunity to do if were not for these wonderful people.
She was fully integrated in the school system in the early days when Schools did not always know what to do with special needs children. Her education started at the Deerfield Community Clinical Nursery School, Four Corners, and she graduated from Greenfield High School at age 22. Doreen touched many lives over her years and she in turn had many angels who have touched her life and her families. She has had amazing respite workers, massage therapists, and her hair dresser who have become our family members. Dear friends who have always been there to support Doreen and her family have meant so much to us. Words cannot adequately express our appreciation and love for everyone. We always knew anyone would do anything for Doreen.
Through what could be called a miracle Doreen has survived longer than any Doctor could have imagined. We believe this is because of the love she was surrounded by on a daily basis and her love of life and everything it offered. Doreen loved music and had perfect rhythm and knew the words to every song. She loved Christmas lights and we always made sure she could see them wherever we were. Watching life through her eyes made everything new and fresh again.
Survivors include her beloved mother, Janice M. Peeters, her sister Cindy Peeters, her nephew David Giard and his fiancée Michaela Pippin and is loved by many Aunts, Uncles and cousins in both Vermont and Connecticut including her “surrogate Aunts” Debbie Zuron and Carolyn Pollard who are acknowledged for their compassionate care and assistance provided to Doreen. She was predeceased and welcomed with open arms by her father Richard G. Peeters in June of 2015, her brother Jerry Peeters in 1987 and by her paternal grandparents – Betty and Buster Peeters and her maternal grandparents – Elsie and Bob Hawes.
A Celebration of Life gathering will be observed on Thursday evening, December 7, 2017 from the McCarthy Funeral Homes, 36 Bank Row, Greenfield, MA at 6:00PM, with Rev. Philip Grant, friend of the family to officiate. At the conclusion of the services, all are invited to the Second Congregational Church adjacent to the funeral home, for a coffee social hour to take place in the parish hall. Visiting hours are omitted. Inurnment will be private and at the convenience of the family in the Green River Cemetery, Greenfield, MA following cremation. Visiting hours are omitted. Flowers are respectfully requested to be omitted, with a charitable contribution preferred in Doreen’s memory to the Whole Children’s School of Hadley, Attn: Gail, 41 Russell Street, Hadley, MA 01035.

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