Obituary of Jessie Harold Lewis Peters Jr

Mr. Jessie Harold Lewis “Pete” Peters, Jr., a resident of Enterprise, died Thursday, July 29, 2021. He was 51 years old. Funeral services for Mr. Peters will be 2:00 P.M. Saturday, August 7, 2021, at Pleasant Grove Baptist Church with his father, Reverend Harold Peters and Reverend Donnie Holley officiating. Interment will follow in the church cemetery with full Military Honors, Holman Funeral Home and Cremations of Ozark directing. The family will receive friends in the church Saturday from 12:30 P.M. until service time. A husband, a father, a son, a “PeePah”, and a brother “Pete”. He was a passionate aviator, talented musician, and avid outdoorsman. Jessie was an example to his children and everyone around him to strive for excellence and “to do what you love and you won’t work a day in your life”. He lived that advice, excelling in every endeavor and becoming a distinguished military helicopter pilot. He honorably retired as a Chief Warrant Officer III with twenty years of service in the United States Army and two twelve-month tours in Afghanistan where he piloted UH-60s for Combat Air Assault and Medical Evacuation missions responsible for saving hundreds of American soldiers’ lives. Jessie was born on June 11, 1970, in Alexandria, Louisiana just off the banks of the red river and grew up in Ozark and Ariton. He graduated from Ariton High School in 1988 where he participated in football and FFA. Following his graduation, he entered the Army as a UH-1 “Huey” helicopter mechanic, serving an honorable five-year enlistment, after which he returned home to Ariton and worked at Fort Rucker while attending Alabama Aviation Technical College earning his Private Pilot’s License. These achievements put in motion his life-long dream of becoming a pilot, equally inspired as a child standing in his Grandma Ryder’s front yard watching airplanes and helicopters fly over and by the first book of airplanes he was given by his second grade teacher to keep him busy after he completed his classwork before the other students. At 32, he rejoined the Army, graduating top of his class in Warrant Officer Candidate School and began flying UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters in the nation’s capital at Fort Belvoir, Virginia for four years, then serving six years as a member of the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. After retiring in 2016, he continued to share his passion of flight, including two years in Taiwan as a Maintenance Test Pilot Instructor for the Taiwanese military. He returned to work at Fort Rucker as a Maintenance Test Pilot. Jessie loved the outdoors. He enjoyed taking family members to the tree stand just as much as spending hours on the tractor. He was a member of the Red Oak Hunting Club where he, his father, and his brother would hunt with their six hound dogs. Jessie’s survivors include his wife, Pace Holley Peters of Enterprise, their daughter, Jemma Peters, one stepdaughter, Victoria Reynolds of New Brockton, and one stepson, Kendall Reynolds of New Brockton. From his previous marriage (Sonja Peters Barreto), one daughter, Jessica Alexandria Cooper (Galen) of DeFuniak Springs, FL; two sons, Jessie Peters (Diana) of Madison and Jacob Peters (Alexa) of DeFuniak Springs, FL; his father, Reverend Harold Peters of Ozark; one brother, Matthew Peters (Sabrina) of Level Plains; grandchildren, Blake Peters, Brandon Peters, Liliana Peters, Tyler McBride and Elizabeth Peters. Jessie was preceded in death by his son, David Michael Peters (Son of Sonja Peters Barreto); his mother, Patricia Ann Morgan Peters; and stepdaughter, Madison Reynolds (Daughter of Pace Peters). In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Wounded Warrior Project, P.O. Box 758517, Topeka, Kansas 66675-8517; or to Pleasant Grove Baptist Church Cemetery Fund, 1124 County Road 11, Ozark, Alabama 36360.