Jerry R. Peters

Funeral services for Jerry R. "Reggie" Peters, 83, of Crowville, will be 10 am Thursday January 23, 2025, at First Baptist Church Crowville with Rev. Wade Coker and Rev. Marion Collier officiating. Interment will follow In Crowville Masonic Cemetery under the direction of Dennard First National Funeral Home. Visitation will be 5 – 7 pm Wednesday January 22, 2025, at the church.
Jerry was born May 7, 1941,the fourth of nine children in Crowville to the union of the late Garland Jeptha Peters and the late Mable Wroten Peters and passed from this life on January 20, 2025, at Legacy Nursing Center in Winnsboro.
Growing up in rural Franklin Parish, Jerry learned the meaning of hard work and a love for agriculture at a very early age. Jerry experienced growing up in a rural town walking both ways to school, sometimes barefoot, and picking his father's small cotton crop by hand. Jerry earned his Bachelor of Science in Dairy Science from Louisiana State University in 1963.
After working for 4years teaching mathematics and agriculture in the Franklin Parish school system (and a short stint at the local milk house and a summer at the local Massey Ferguson tractor dealership), Jerry started farming around 1973 in the Crowville community, originally producing cattle, cotton, soybean, wheat, oats, and grain sorghum on over 1,500 acres, before eventually adding corn to the rotation. As a 3rd generation farmer, he experienced the highs and lows of production agriculture and continued doing what he loved. Even with the long hours required of a farmer, he found time in his busy schedule to pursue his other love, public service. Jerry has been active in the First Baptist Church of Crowville and has served on various boards and committees over the past 40 years. In the early years, he served on the board of the Franklin Parish Farm Bureau and the Farm Service Agency county committee (1998-2001 and 2006-2011). He was also elected to the Franklin Parish School Board for 10 years (serving as president 2 years) and served on the Associated Producers Cooperative Cotton Gin board for 13 years. The most recent post Jerry held was a governor appointed position of Commissioners on the Tensas Basin Levee District where he served nearly 18 years representing Franklin Parish.
Jerry has never met a stranger and has always been willing to give the shirt off his back to help anyone he could. He probably can't count the amount of money he has "loaned" former employees to pay a bill or provide Christmas for their families. On top of all this, he, along with his faithful wife, provided a loving, caring home for their 2 sons (and many of their friends) throughout their childhood and high school years. The importance of a faith in Jesus and a good education was always stressed and nothing but your best effort at any task would suffice. As a result, Ashley earned a B.S. and a M.S. from LSU and Alan earned a M.S. from LSU and a Ph.D. from Texas Tech University, all in agriculture. Both boys grew up working on the farm, and both now work in agriculture and make significant contributions to the industry.
Jerry retired from production agriculture in the early 2000's, mostly due to declining prices, declining acres, and a decline in the availability of a reliable work force. Since retiring, he had planted a small peach orchard and grew the size of his home garden and enjoyed growing many types of produce and giving lots of it to family and friends. For many years, he grafted pecan trees and worked with neighbors helping them spray, fertilize, and harvest pecans from many of those grafted trees. He even experimented with sugarcane for a few years and made homemade syrup with his brother and nephew. In 2018, he was selected as Alumnus of the Year for the LSU College of Agriculture.
He is preceded in death by his parents and three brothers: Kenneth F. Peters, Allen D. Peters, and James L. Peters.
Survivors left to cherish his memory include his wife of 55 years, Sybil Lambright Peters of Crowville; two sons: Dr. Alan Peters and his wife Kristin of Denver City, TX, and Edward Ashley Peters and his wife Amy of Crowville; four grandchildren: Madison, Ethan, Nathan, and Caleb Peters; two brothers: Roy W. Peters and wife Lynette of Orlando, FL, and Gary R. Peters of Winnsboro; three sisters: Lenora Peters Amedee and husband Louis, Lillian Peters Andrews and husband Larry all of Baton Rouge, and Karen Peters Beach and husband Ronald of Wisner; he is also survived by his sisters-in-law, Camille Lambright Grim and husband Mike of Brookhaven, MS, Betty Lou Peters of Crowville, and Charlotte Peters of Grand Cane ; a host of special cousins, nieces, nephews, and many friends.
Pallbearers will be Ronnie Busby, Scott Peters, John Ainsworth, Tom Peters, Ethan Peters, Nathan Peters, and Caleb Peters.
Honorary pallbearers will be Jack McDaniel, Brent Ellender, Trevor Crawford, Heath Finley, Todd Ulmer, Tyler Chapman, and Kyle Peters.
Online condolences may be made at www.dennardfirstnational.com.