Barbara Flynn Peters, 91 passed away peacefully, in her sleep on April 22, 2025.  Mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2022.    In 2019 she moved into a new home, in Butte, to be closer to her daughter Kathy and son-in-law Mike.  For a while, her health surprisingly improved in her new surroundings. However, over the months, her cognitive powers continued to decline until she finally lost the struggle with Alzheimer's.

Born as Barbara Osborn Borden, in Astoria, Oregon on February 9, 1934, to Lucille and Alan Borden, Barbara was an only child. After the premature death of her father, Alan Borden, Barbara was sent to live with her maternal grandparents in Portland.  Over the next 10 plus years, she lived mostly a worry free, happy life in her maternal grandparents' home.  Some of her favorite memories were, "when Pa took me to the local parlor for an ice cream cone and when Grams gave me a puppy, which I named Patches."  Her idyllic life ended abruptly by the turmoil and priorities of the World War II, she remembers "city wide blackouts at night and recalls witnessing Japanese American families being forced from their homes. Everybody was fearful that bombs would be dropped on the western coastline." They never were.

Later her mother Lucille married Joe Flynn, her sibling group grew with 4 stepsisters, Penny, Judy, Peggy and Pam, and sometime soon after Barbara was adopted by her stepfather Flynn.  During the war, Mom primarily spent her time between Portland, Oklahoma and Astoria.  She graduated from Star of the Sea High School in Astoria, Oregon in 1952 and went on to become a Registered Nurse.

Barbara married Richard DeZeng Pierce in 1957.  They had six children in quick succession.  Eileen, Richard, Ronald, Robert, Randall and Kathleen Pierce.  By 1968 there was a divorce.  As a single parent of six growing children, Mom worked hard as an RN at Warm Springs, MT, she had to.  Those were lean years with little money to spare.  We all learned to say grace, please and thank you, use a napkin, and we ate everything on our plate.  Born before World War II, sometime much later Mom described herself as a "skinflint," she never threw anything away.  She loved gardening, raising farm animals and dogs.  As a single parent she never missed an opportunity to install motherly discipline into her 6 mischievous children, by forcing them into child labor of picking weeds from the garden, picking rocks in the field, cleaning dog kennels, mucking out the chicken coop or cleaning rabbit cages.   By 1975 she met the man of her dreams, Dr. Bernard A Peters, while working as a psychiatric RN the Western Montana Mental Health Center. They married in 1980.  Some five years later, Mom would retire from her RN job due to nepotism rules.

By 1990, Mom and Ben had built a beautiful, unique log home in a rocky area of Lower Rader Creek.  The remote location gave stunning views of the Highland and Tobacco Root Mountains.  As each decade passed, more improvements were made and more buildings were built. Eventually perennial flowers, grapes, a garden, cactus and Iris beds grew in the granite soil and hillside.  Ultimately, Mom had a small farm with sheep, angora rabbits, chickens and dogs, mainly Pyrenees and Scotty dogs.  Mom's dream of having an art studio finally came true, when Ben built a half octagon structure, the crown jewel, of the Mountain.   Her studio was filled with art supplies, a large easel, stained glass inventory, a mountainous amount of wool, a loom, spinning wheels and basket weaving supplies.

Mom left a whole lot of stuff for her daughter and son-in-law to sort through, which was quite a job.  There were crates of wool roving, spinning wheels, art supplies, books, brushes, pastels, oil paints, colored pencils, punch needle, felting supplies, rug hooking inventory, hand dye wool fabric, hand spun yarns, wool dye, tools; "How to" art instructional books, beading supplies, antler basket weaving supplies, fuzzy wool fleeces, fiber and stained-glass supplies.

This is not liquidation sale, but  a tribute to an immensely talented Mom, woman, grandmother, sister, grandmother and great – grandmother.  Mom was an internationally and nationally unknown artist.  She once dreamed of attending the Ringling School of Art, however her overly pragmatic mother pressed her to enroll in the Providence School of Nursing in Portland, where she obtained a Registered Nurse Degree in three years.  The Ringling Art School dream never fully dissipated.  As it turned out, she never needed art school to become a phenomenal artist.

Mom arrived in this world with artistic genes, she had natural talent which she nurtured over the years.  She learned the discipline of drawing animals, dogs, cats and mainly horses, her grandparents recognized their granddaughter 's artistic abilities and encouraged her to follow in the footsteps of her artistic ancestors - which she did by eventually becoming a self-taught, successful Western Artist in the 1960s.    For at least a decade she created and sold dozens of oil paintings which subject matter was the Old American West, her unique style and dramatic scenery where mostly filled with cowboys, Cavalry soldiers, Native Americans, buffalo, horses and landscapes – a sample art piece is included in this tribute. By the mid 70s her art creations changed io drawing elk, deer, highland cattle, mountain ranges, and later she learned to make stained glass windows, lamps and suncatchers.  Mom's artistic interest shifted to stained glass and spinning wool, after a few years of working from home, she opened a legitimate business in Butte named "The Mountain Top Sheep Shop" where she sold sheep fleeces, raw wool, angora, and roving, knitting needles, hand dyed yarns and stained-glass supplies and stock.

The death of her beloved husband, Ben Peters in 2015 was a major setback for this artistic Mom that also slowly worsened her health.  Four another 4 years, and with the continuous help from her daughter Kathy and son-in-law Mike, she was able to continue to live on the Mountain with her two Scotty dogs, a Pyrenees dog, sheep, rabbits and chickens until a cougar arrived and decimated her small flock of sheep. Though Mom stopped selling art years ago, she continued the practice of spinning wool, rug hooking and painting.

Mom's innate artistic chops were passed down to her daughters and granddaughters.  She always believed in the power of starting young.  Mom's vast amount of art has been catalogued for her heirs.  I remember my Mom as an artist, yet she was also a magnificent woman.  And now that this tribute has come to an end, all I can say is "Mom, I never stopped learning from you, you made me a better artist and a better person.  Very well done, Mom!  We all love you, Kathy"

In keeping with Mom's wishes, there will be no public service, her body will be cremated and her ashes along with her beloved Ben's ashes, will be spread on the Mountain at a later date.

Barbara is preceded in death by her husband Bernard A. Peters, parents, sisters Penny and Peggy White, and daughter Eileen (Ike) Foust, son Richard Pierce III, grandson Chanc Foust and brother-in-law Joe Duggan.  Survivors include her sisters Pam (Bob) Kelly and Judy Duggan and brother in-in-law Phil White, daughter Kathleen (Michael) Cashell, sons Ronald (Susan) Pierce, Randy (Laura Jean) Pierce, and Robert (Sue) Pierce, and son-in-law Tim Foust.  Grand children are Courtney (Connor) LeProwse, Jesse Pierce, JR (Danielle) Pierce, Katie and Shawn Pierce, Adam, Amber and Tyler Pierce, Shawna Foust, and Joshua and Dedrick Selensky,  and many great grandchildren.  She is also survived by  special friends from the Mountain, Kate Smith, Nila and Keith Ruckdaschel, and Judy and Roger Chadwick.

On behalf of the Cashell and Pierce families, a special thank you to all the staff at Senior Solutions and Hospice, Beehive Homes, and Belmont Senior Center for all your kindness, loving care and friendship you so willingly gave to Mom.