A Loss

Last night, Feb 17 at 4:00pm PST, we had a knock at the door which happened to be a lady from our landlady’s church. She wanted to know if we had seen or heard from her in the past two days, which we hadn’t. The lady then proceeded to call the police to report what was going on. Since all the tenants had been alerted as to what was going on, we all gathered outside to try and figure out if she was ok or not.

She always has her curtains open in the front to get some sunlight in the house, but they were closed. Her door is always locked with at least 3 deadbolts on her door if she is leaving somewhere, they weren’t locked but the main lock was. We tried looking in her windows to see if we could see anything but to no avail as her curtains was sheer but not sheer enough.

As the automatic lights came on in her apartment, my dad tried to look in the window again. What he seen was a major shock to him as he broke down in tears and yelled “Oh My God, NO!!!” He noticed she was sitting on the couch as if she had just sat down to rest and fell asleep. He really didn’t want to jump to conclusions, but he feared the worst.

Eventually the fire department showed up and broke the window to gain access to her apartment. Upon entering and securing the scene, they told us all the bad news. She had passed, most likely in the past 24 hours. It was a very sad night indeed. The fire department completed their report and patched up the window as the police started their death investigation. The police had a really hard time trying to find any family to call as she is from Latvia and only has family in Canada. Eventually, the police reached a family member and was able to inform them as to what happened.

She was the nicest person you could ever meet, and she was a very close friend of the family. My dad and step-mom had moved into her building almost 18 years ago, and had become friends with her from the start. Over the years, dad had become her favorite handyman, doing anything she needed done and taking a bit off the rent in return. She was such an awesome woman in so many ways. She accepted me and even asked me to help her with a few things, which made me feel better too. She has helped us here lately in our financial issues by letting us skip a couple rent payments, bless her.

She will be in our hearts forever. She will certainly be missed.

  • Margaret Basham

    There was never a better, kinder woman then our beloved Zenta Petersons. She was like a mother to us when we weren’t able to go back across the country to see our own mothers. We have been very close to her for almost 18 years and she has told us so many wonderful stories from where she was from in Latvia and her life as a child growing up there.

    Her and her husband, Peter Petersons, came to the United States in the early 60s. Peter and her started out working for a family as a live in cook and house keeper. Then Peter started working his way up to working at Boeing. He retired from that, and Zenta lost him to natural causes over 10 years ago and she still hung in there. She had her only family here in the church that she and Peter attended. She is going to be missed by many, many, of her friends that surrounded her on a daily bases .She was the best cook too, she always made extra on cakes and for all of our birthdays and Christmas she always baked some for us.

    A few times throughout the 18 years, she skipped our rent as a Christmas gift. She even lowered our rent a couple of times when I lost my job. Nobody could have asked for a better family then what she made us feel like. The day when we lost her was the worst day of our lives. She watched my son grow up from a little child when we first moved in; all the way up to the time he became a man and had a family of his own. She loved our two grand-daughters as if they had been her own that she never had. Around a year and a half ago, she accepted our daughter (Jennifer Basham) that came up here to live with us from back in West Virginia. She took her in as family too.

    She was always there through all our good and bad times. I remember a few years back when my husband had a stroke and passed out in the floor, she came and took us to the emergency room and she stayed there with me in the waiting room all that night. They took my husband in and he was there in I.C.U. for three days, and she was right by his side. We would also run errands on occasion for her too.

    Now the world seems to be so lifeless without her. Her spirit and her love will keep us going, but it will be very hard. We know that she is in a better place, alongside her husband. And they both are telling us, to hold our heads up high, for it was there time to be with the LORD. He is now their family.

    My husband Paul took it very hard, because he had seen her through her window from the back porch and she was sitting on her couch as if she sat there to rest and went to sleep, but to never again wake up again. It will be very hard for him to get that image out of his mind. When the fireman showed up to get into the apartment, only then they confirmed to us of her passing within the last 24 hours. They told all of us, the other tenants and neighbors next door.

    On this day, February 17th 2010 at around 7pm. She had passed away around evening time on February 16th 2010. We will be getting more information as soon as they get it to pass on to us. I will go now…

    If you knew Zenta please read these and tell us some of your touching stories of happiness that you where able to share with her.

    ZENTA PETERSONS MAY YOU REST IN PEACE AND TAKE MANY WALKS WITH PETER THROUGHOUT THE HEAVENS.

  • Guest

    There was never a better, kinder woman then our beloved Zenta Petersons. She was like a mother to us when we weren’t able to go back across the country to see our own mothers. We have been very close to her for almost 18 years and she has told us so many wonderful stories from where she was from in Latvia and her life as a child growing up there.

    Her and her husband, Peter Petersons, came to the United States in the early 60s. Peter and her started out working for a family as a live in cook and house keeper. Then Peter started working his way up to working at Boeing. He retired from that, and Zenta lost him to natural causes over 10 years ago and she still hung in there. She had her only family here in the church that she and Peter attended. She is going to be missed by many, many, of her friends that surrounded her on a daily bases .She was the best cook too, she always made extra on cakes and for all of our birthdays and Christmas she always baked some for us.

    A few times throughout the 18 years, she skipped our rent as a Christmas gift. She even lowered our rent a couple of times when I lost my job. Nobody could have asked for a better family then what she made us feel like. The day when we lost her was the worst day of our lives. She watched my son grow up from a little child when we first moved in; all the way up to the time he became a man and had a family of his own. She loved our two grand-daughters as if they had been her own that she never had. Around a year and a half ago, she accepted our daughter (Jennifer Basham) that came up here to live with us from back in West Virginia. She took her in as family too.

    She was always there through all our good and bad times. I remember a few years back when my husband had a stroke and passed out in the floor, she came and took us to the emergency room and she stayed there with me in the waiting room all that night. They took my husband in and he was there in I.C.U. for three days, and she was right by his side. We would also run errands on occasion for her too.

    Now the world seems to be so lifeless without her. Her spirit and her love will keep us going, but it will be very hard. We know that she is in a better place, alongside her husband. And they both are telling us, to hold our heads up high, for it was there time to be with the LORD. He is now their family.

    My husband Paul took it very hard, because he had seen her through her window from the back porch and she was sitting on her couch as if she sat there to rest and went to sleep, but to never again wake up again. It will be very hard for him to get that image out of his mind. When the fireman showed up to get into the apartment, only then they confirmed to us of her passing within the last 24 hours. They told all of us, the other tenants and neighbors next door.

    On this day, February 17th 2010 at around 7pm. She had passed away around evening time on February 16th 2010. We will be getting more information as soon as they get it to pass on to us. I will go now…

    If you knew Zenta please read these and tell us some of your touching stories of happiness that you where able to share with her.

    ZENTA PETERSONS MAY YOU REST IN PEACE AND TAKE MANY WALKS WITH PETER THROUGHOUT THE HEAVENS.

  • http://www.sk-legal.com/ Matiss Kukainis

    Hello,

    My name is Matiss Kukainis and I am an attorney from Latvia. Zentas Latvian relatives would like to know if anyone has information about who is the executor of the estate.

    If you would have any information, please contact me at matiss@sk-legal.com.

    Thank you in advance.

blog comments powered by Disqus

Previous post:

Next post: