University remembers Peters

By: Devin Franklin

Posted: 1/23/09

For 27 years, Cheryl L. Peters photographed nearly every member of the university community. The impact she had on those people's lives was just as far-reaching.

Peters, a long-time employee of St. Bonaventure University, passed away at age 65 Jan. 15 after a brief illness. She worked as the university's Bona's Express Manager for 27 years and was in charge of taking every student and faculty member's identification card picture.

Several of Peters' colleagues remembered the lasting effects she had on them.

"She was the person who gave each of us our faces," Sister Margaret Carney, O.S.F., university president, said at Peters' funeral Monday.

During her time at St. Bonaventure, Peters established strong bonds with the university's current students as well as alumni, Father Dan Riley, O.F.M., said.

"She made a point in staying in touch with alumni," Father Dan said. "She really connected the family."

Bob Donius, vice president for university ministries, recalled a conversation he had with Peters.

"She told me, 'I've just got so much love in me, I don't know what to do with it all.'"

Peters also worked at Tops Friendly Markets, located at 2401 W. State St., Donius said.

"People would wait longer on her line at Tops," Donius said. "She was just that beautiful of a person."

Della Moore, director of the Bona Buddies program, said she was a good friend of Peters'. She also worked with her for 10 years at Tops.

"She was fantastic. The salt of the Earth, and that's not a cliché," Moore said. "Her heart was as big as this room."

e-mail: frankldm@sbu.edu