Janice M. Gibbs Peterson

Janice Marie (Gibbs) Peterson, loving wife of Charles A. Peterson for 53 years, died Thursday, January 19, 2012 after a lengthy battle with C.O.P.D. and cancer. She was born in Sandwich to the late Mary Louise (Campbell) Gibbs and Webster L. Gibbs who lives in E. Freetown, MA. She raised her family in her beloved Sandwich and her life was all about the children…her three sons, Charlie, David and Mark and their wives, Beth, Carol and Julie and the grandchildren: Chad, Clark, Veronica, Maggie, Sahara, Jasmine and Mickey, and the countless children she helped for 17 years at the Henry T. Wing School as a teacher’s assistant and in the nurse’s office as a CNA. Most of the students met Janice on their first day of school where she and the school nurse would do the vision and hearing screens in which Janice had been state certified, and then the lucky students would end up in her classroom. She often said that the Henry T. Wing School had a homelike atmosphere and the staff bonded together like one big family to prepare the children for the world in which they would live and work.

Janice was a member of the Sandwich Junior Women’s Club and served as vice president in 1975 and 1976. On Sundays she was a CCD teacher for Corpus Christie Parish. She also found time to do her civic duty. She was appointed to the Sandwich Recreation Committee from 1976 to 1979 and appointed to the Capital Outlay Committee in 1979 and 1980. Janice was also appointed to the Sandwich Nursing Agency Professional Advisory Board consecutively from 1977 through 1986.

Besides her husband, father, children and grandchildren, Janice is survived by her three aunts: Bessie Guthrie of Seneca Falls, NY, Barbara Gibbs of San Leandro, CA and Dorothy Gibbs of Sandwich; her step-sister, Lucille Crealese of E. Freetown; her brother-in-law Jeffrey Peterson of E. Freetown and his wife Margit; nieces Amy and Cynthia; nephew Ryan and many, many cousins. She was also the mother-in-law of the late Gretchen Peterson.

Visiting hours will be held from 10 am until the time of the memorial service at 12 pm on Saturday, January 28, 2012 in the Nickerson-Bourne Funeral Home, 154 Route 6A in Sandwich with burial following in the Sandwich Town Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her memory to the McCarthy Care Center, 73 Service Road, East Sandwich, MA 02537.