Margaret Ellen Peters

Margaret Ellen Peters of Highland, Michigan, passed away at University of Michigan Hospital on Thursday, December 11, 2025, surrounded by her family. She was 81 years old. Born on April 29, 1944, in Detroit, she was the fourth of ten strong-willed children born to Rob and Lucy (Fretter) Hochstein.
Margaret's maternal warmth, nurturing spirit, and keen sense of humor are remembered and carried on by Ron (her loving husband), five children, 16 grandchildren, six surviving siblings, and an extended family of relations and friends.
An accomplished cook, baker, seamstress, gardener, artisan, vacation chronicler, and more, Margaret was generous with her wisdom. Her lessons include:
If you can see any portion of the family room floor on Christmas morning, you have not purchased enough gifts.
Always make friends with the person at the slot machine next to you, the waitstaff at any restaurant you visit, and the cashier at every store you frequent. Not only will you end up with more friends, you might also have a decent shot at sharing a jackpot, receiving a free dessert, and getting the sale prices on items that aren't on sale.
Don't limit yourself to six kinds of Christmas cookies when you can bake 24.
Just about anything can become a tradition, including watching "The Bishop's Wife" every holiday (starring Margaret's second great love, Cary Grant), packing hot dog lunches for pontoon cruises on Hubbard Lake, and making four specific Jell-O dishes for every Thanksgiving meal.
You can teach children basic economic principles by packing homemade chocolate chip cookies in their school lunches for envious classmates to pay good money for. (But no one in their right mind would sell one of her cookies for any price.)
Most importantly: being a great wife, mom, and grandma is life's highest calling. Margaret did it every day of the week for over 60 years. We will never be able to fill the space she leaves behind.
Margaret is survived by her husband of 62 years, Ronald Peters; children, Joe (Jackie) Peters, Susie (Mike) Kolb, Jeff Peters, Gretchen (Mark) Williams, and Karin (Ed) Bottomley; grandchildren, Jonathan, Amanda, and Spencer Peters, Matt (Amelia) Kolb and Betsy Kolb, Cooper (Katie) Peters-Wood, Hank (Sophie) Peters-Wood, Hannah (Paul) Binandeh, Harley and Ivy Williams, Jamie, Maggie, Gracie, Charlie and Pippa Bottomley; siblings, David (Lillian) Hochstein, Donna Wright, Kathy Glover, John (Judi) Hochstein, Sue (Walter Prymer) Veeder, Rob (Julie) Hochstein; brothers-in-law, Richard (Sally) Piotrowski, and Bob (Cynthia) Piotrowski; lifelong friend, Dianne Belanger; also many extended family and dear friends.
Margaret is preceded in death by her grandson, William Rhys Bottomley; sister, Mary Lou Simpson; brothers, Tony and Tommy Hochstein; sister-in-law, Rosalind DePriest.
Visitation will be held at Lynch & Sons Funeral Home, 404 E. Liberty St., Milford, MI 48381 on Thursday, December 18, 2025 from 3 - 8pm. Rosary 7pm.
Funeral Service at St. Mary Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Church, 1955 E. Commerce Rd., Milford, MI 48381, on Friday, December 19, 2025 at 11am with gathering beginning at 10am. Burial will take place immediately following at St. Mary's Cemetery.