Stella "Sunny" Peters RN

MILES CITY - Stella "Sunny" A. Peters, of Miles City, passed away on May 25, 2008, at the Friendship Villa Care Center, at the age of 94.
She was born to Paul and Rose Sonsalla on March 27, 1914, on her parents' ranch near Marmarth, N.D. She loved horses and enjoyed the ranching life as a young girl. She graduated from the Presentation School of Nursing in May 1941, in Miles City, and went on to become a Registered Nurse (RN). On Sept. 1, 1942, she was wed to Staff Sergeant Johnny Peters at a ceremony during World War II in Thomasville, Ga. Johnny was from the Powderville area. They made their home in Bainbridge, Ga., for the next three and a half years until Johnny was shipped to the South Pacific. At the end of WWII, they returned to Montana, where they resided in the Birney area as a ranching couple. They purchased a ranch south of Lame Deer and raised their family there.
Sunny became the Supervisor of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Health Clinic at Lame Deer, where she served for 35 years. During the early years at the clinic, she served with two ambulance drivers but with no physicians or other staff. She delivered 18 babies without the assistance of a doctor and was instrumental in reducing the incidents of tuberculosis among the Northern Cheyennes. Her efforts were rewarded by the United States Government with the Superior Service Award presented in 1962 by the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare during the Kennedy Administration. The Northern Cheyenne Tribe recognized her contribution to the health of their tribe by adopting her into the Lonebear and Wolfvoice Families of the tribe in 1985 with the name of "Mother of the Earth Standing Woman." She was featured in the October 1987 edition of "R.N. Magazine." After she retired from the Lame Deer Clinic, she lived on her ranch south of Lame Deer until her husband's death in 1988. Following recovery from open heart surgery in 1988, she was asked by the Tribal President to return to Lame Deer to care for the elderly at the retirement home for the Northern Cheyennes. She resided there for six years. In 1992, she authored a book entitled "Hi!Cheyennes," which was a recount of her many years of nursing for the Northern Cheyennes.
Sunny was a Registered Nurse for 59 years, a member of the Montana Nurse's Association. She was an active member of the Lame Deer Women's Club and a counselor for the rehabilitation of the handicapped. She was a member of the Range Riders in Miles City and Chairperson of the T&Y Chapter of the Montana Senior Citizens group, and a volunteer at the Holy Rosary Health Center as well as the Veterans Center. She established a Nurse's Scholarship for the Northern Cheyennes and provided several Future Farmers of America scholarships to Colstrip students. In 2005, she received the President's Volunteer Service Award from the White House for 4,000 hours of volunteer service.
Sunny is survived by three children, Joanne (and Ed) Luther of Anchorage, Alaska, Jim (and Jan) Peters of Orlando, Fla., and Joy Peters of Sedro Woolley, Wash. She has six grandchildren, Dale (and Annie) Luther, Michelle (and Jeremy) Frappier, Mark Peters, Jeff (and Danielle) Losinski, Jenny (and Dallas) Darwood and Justin Losinski. She has four great-grandchildren, Lily Kay Darwood, Cole Austin Darwood, Samantha Frappier and Corabelle Losinski. She is survived by a brother, Andy (and Margie) Sonsalla; and two sisters, Agnes Larkin and Pauline Peters.
Visitation will be held on Thursday, May 29, at Stevenson & Sons Funeral Home in Miles City. Funeral Mass will be held on Friday, May 30, at 11 a.m., at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church at 520 N. Montana Ave., Miles City. Rite of Committal will follow at the Custer County Cemetery in Miles City. Stevenson & Sons Funeral Home of Miles City is in charge of the arrangements.
Memorials in lieu of flowers are recommended for: Elliot Children's Educational Fund, c/o First Interstate Bank, 1115 Main St., Miles City, MT 59301. These four young children recently lost their mother, Lee Anne Knobloch Elliot, to breast cancer. Bonds will be purchased for their future education.

This obituary was originally published in the Billings Gazette.