Elizabeth Ann Rice Peace, 91, of Leland, Mich. passed away Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017 in Traverse City, Mich.
Known to all as Libby, she was born on Oct. 31, 1925, and raised in Cheshire, Conn. Upon graduation from Hamden High School in Connecticut, Libby attended the University of Iowa and graduated from Russell Sage College in Troy, N.Y., where she met her future husband, Bill Peace. Prior to their marriage in August 1948, she taught third grade in Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.
After their wedding at the Congregational Church in Cheshire, Libby and Bill moved to Akron, Ohio. Libby joined the Junior League, volunteered in numerous charities, learned to drive (not without peril to a few bushes) and happily produced their two children.
In 1953, Libby and Bill moved to Niles, Mich. Although she was sad to leave so many dear friends in Akron, this began a lifelong love of Western Michigan.
In the early 1970s, while visiting Akron friends, Laura Lee and Fred Heslop in Leland, Mich., Libby and Bill impulsively purchased a vacation house on Sugar Bush Lane – and never looked back. This and the house they subsequently purchased next door made Leland the Peace family gathering spot.
Libby was preceded in death by her parents, her siblings, Mary R. Beatty and Edward A. Rice, and her granddaughter, Elizabeth P. Oliver, in 1997.
The loving and lovely wife of William Dunnett Peace. Wonderful mother of Susan Peace Oliver and William Peace Jr. Proud grandmother of Andrew Oliver, Megan Peace Vrabel, Elizabeth Oliver (deceased), Laura Oliver McElhinney, Jennifer Peace Landsberg, and Jonathan Peace. Great-grandmother of Carson Vrabel, Kate Vrabel, Charlie Oliver, Quincey Vrabel, Hazel Elizabeth McElhinney, Catherine Oliver, Henry McElhinney, Dylan Landsberg, Milo Landsberg, Elizabeth “Libby” Ross Oliver and Julia Landsberg.
Graveside services will be held at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, September 30, 2017 at Beechwood Cemetery. Rev. Daniel Hofmann will officiate.
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Martinson Funeral Home & Cremation Services