Eloise C. Roller Peper

Eloise was born in Cascade, Idaho, to Richard Ernest Roller and Myrtle Gamble Roller on June 17, 1916, the fourth of five children. When Eloise was two, she moved with her family to Enterprise, Oregon, where they lived on a dairy farm. One year after the death of her father, at the age of 14, Eloise relocated with her mother and siblings to Portland.

After graduating from Lincoln High School, Eloise worked at Woolworth’s in downtown Portland. She became a member of The Progressive Oregonians where she met Norman George Peper whom she married in 1939.

In the early years of their marriage, Norman and Eloise hiked and camped extensively, and they also chaperoned a young people’s hiking and biking club.

The couple had three children: Ronald, Joanne (“Josie”), and Dean Peper. Eloise was a devoted mother to all of her children, but she was particularly dedicated to her youngest son Dean, born with a disability, up until his death in 1994. While Eloise enjoyed being a housewife--or “domestic engineer,” as she would say--she also helped her husband with his business as a Manufactures Representative.

Eloise was active in several clubs, including the Emblem Club (affiliated with Elk’s Lodge #142 in Portland, OR, where she served several terms as the club’s president, and a trade organization, the Pot and Kettle Club; She also sewed for the Sunshine Division.

Eloise enjoyed many activities, including gardening and raising two milk goats while living near Gresham. She and her family loved the many family reunions of the Poppe and Hellberg clans, Norman’s maternal relatives, as well as taking family camping trips to the Oregon coast and various national parks.

After their children left home, Norm and Eloise enjoyed traveling, especially to Hawaii. When her husband died in 1988, Eloise moved to a home next door to her son Ron and daughter-in law Pam in Gresham, OR, where she lived until 2000, when a hip fracture forced her to move into a senior retirement community in Happy Valley, OR.

Eloise nevertheless remained active and enjoyed playing many games and learned to paint. She also was in charge of taking photos of the center’s new residents and posting obituaries of all residents who had passed. Eloise attended Christ Light Unity Church in Gresham OR.

To be near her daughter Josie, Eloise recently moved in April to Birch Court Adult Foster Home in Warrenton, OR, where she remained in the loving care of proprietors Vijay and Chandini Nakka.

Eloise is survived by her son Ron Peper and wife Pam Peper, of Pine Hollow, Oregon, daughter Josie Peper and husband Ken Adee, of Astoria, Oregon, grandsons Jerry Peper of Salem, OR and Frank Peper-Smith of Seaside, OR, an adoptive grandson, Scott Gilson, and wife Tracy, and their daughter Natasha, of Beaverton, Oregon, and Eloise’s former son-in-law, Bucky Barnett, of Astoria. Eloise’s younger sister, Dorothy Sullivan, of Alma, Arkansas, died earlier this year.

Eloise was a kind and generous mother, with a sometimes surprising sense of humor, which she maintained until the end. She will be sorely missed.

A small graveside service will be held at 1:30 PM on Tuesday Sept. 9, at Skyline Memorial Gardens, 4101 NW Skyline Blvd., in Portland, OR.

Donations may be sent to the Shriner’s Hospital in Portland. For questions, call 503-791-0305.

Please visit the guestbook portion of this site and enter a special memory or message. Thank you.