PETE "PIERRE" BOYER
PETE "PIERRE" BOYER OF POTOSI, MISSOURI, WAS BORN MAY 19, 1910, IN RACOLA, MISSOURI, A SON OF THE LATE JOHN L. AND MARY ELIZABETH (DECLUE) BOYER. PETE DEPARTED THIS LIFE AT POTOSI MANOR NURSING HOME ON JUNE 23, 2000, HAVING REACHED THE AGE OF NINETY YEARS, ONE MONTH AND FOUR DAYS.
PETE WAS UNITED IN MARRIAGE TO MARY LOUISE COLEMAN ON JUNE 29, 1937, IN POTOSI, MISSOURI, AND TO THIS UNION TEN CHILDREN WERE BORN. LOUISE PRECEDED PETE IN DEATH ON AUGUST 17, 1992.
PETE IS SURVIVED BY THREE SONS, MICHAEL BOYER OF ARNOLD, JOHN L. BOYER AND WIFE NANCY OF POTOSI, DAVID "EDDIE" BOYER AND WIFE CARLA OF TERRE DU LAC, SIX DAUGHTERS, MARY ELIZABETH "BETTY" BOYER OF ST. LOUIS, NANCY SHY OF ST. LOUIS, DOROTHY RODRIQUEZ OF ST. LOUIS, DIANE CROCKER AND HUSBAND KEN OF PARK HILLS, DEBBIE COLEMAN AND HUSBAND JOE OF MINERAL POINT, MELINDA FUCHS AND HUSBAND MARTY OF HIGH RIDGE, TWENTY- TWO GRANDCHILDREN, THIRTEEN GREAT GRANDCHILDREN, TWO SISTERS, CATHERINE POLITTE AND HUSBAND EDWIN OF CADET, SISTER MIRIAM (VALERINE) PACE OF ST. LOUIS, A SON-IN-LAW, PHIL GARNTO OF ST. LOUIS, A BROTHER-IN-LAW, MARTIN A. COLEMAN OF MINERAL POINT, A SISTER-IN-LAW, SARAH CAMPBELL- YARBROUGH OF POTOSI AND BY MANY OTHER RELATIVES AND FRIENDS. IN ADDITION TO HIS PARENTS HE WAS ALSO PRECEDED IN DEATH BY ONE DAUGHTER, THERESA "CHEE CHEE" GARNTO, TWO GRANDSONS, TWO SISTERS, LOURDES BEQUETTE, MARIE PINSON, FOUR BROTHERS, RIP, CLAUDE, LEO AND ROY BOYER.
PIERRE WAS A MEMBER OF THE ST. JAMES CATHOLIC CHURCH FOR MANY YEARS. HE HAD OWNED AND OPERATED POTOSI JEWELRY AND GIFTS FROM 1950 TO 1972. AFTER HIS RETIREMENT FROM THE BUSINESS WORLD PIERRE CONTINUED BEING WITH THE PUBLIC, BECOMING WELL KNOWN FOR HIS STORY TELLING, MUSIC, FOLK LORE, FOLK FIDDLER, PLAYING THE HARMONICA AND LAP STEEL GUITAR PERFORMING EARLY AMERICAN MUSIC AND SONGS. PIERRE ALWAYS HAD TIME FOR ONE TALL TALE, A WHOPPER OR A CHILD OR ANIMAL STORY. PIERRE WAS FLUENT IN THE FRENCH OR ENGLISH LANGUAGE. PIERRE HAD WORKED WITH THE UNIVERSITY TO COLLECT MANY OF THE OLD MINES AREA FRENCH STORIES AND PUBLISHED THEM IN "TALES FROM THE FRENCH FOLK LORE OF MISSOURI." PIERRE HAD BEEN HONORED BY THE SMITHSONIAN, MANY PROMINENT MAGAZINES AND NATIONAL PUBLICATIONS. PIERRE WILL BE LONG REMEMBERED FOR BOTH HIS LOVE, SMILE AND STORIES BY MUSIC AND LANGUAGE IN THE WASHINGTON COUNTY AREA AND ALSO THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES.
VISITATION WAS HELD SUNDAY, JUNE 25, 2000, FROM 5:00 P.M. TO 9:00 P.M. AT MOORE FUNERAL HOMES IN POTOSI.
A FUNERAL MASS WAS CELEBRATED MONDAY, JUNE 26, 2000, AT 11:00 A.M. AT ST. JAMES CATHOLIC CHURCH WITH FATHER GEORGE GALOVICH OFFICIATING. BURIAL WAS IN ST. JOACHIM CEMETERY UNDER THE DIRECTION OF MOORE FUNERAL HOME.
SERVING AS PALLBEARERS WERE, BILLY JOE BOYER, DWAYNE BOYER, T.J. COLEMAN, RYAN GARNTO, KEITH AKERS, RYAN BOYER AND MARK HOFFMEISTER.