PYEATT, Daphna Onita

Peninsula Clarion (Kenai AK) Wednesday, July 4, 2012 Soldotna resident Daphna Onita (Thurman) Pyeatt, 95, died Friday, June 29, 2012 at Heritage Place in Soldotna. Memorial services will be at 1:30pm Saturday, July 14, at North Santiam Funeral Home in Stayton, Ore. Her ashes will be laid to rest with her husband's in the Claggett Cemetery in Keizer, Ore. Daphna was born Aug 29, 1916 to John P and Lucy H (Burney) Thurman in Cochise, Ariz. After graduating from high school, she went to beauty school. On June 7, 1941, she married James E Pyeatt in Tucson. He brought three children into this marriage, Virginia, James and Donald, and to them one son, Benton, was born. They lived in Arizona for several years before moving to Salem, Ore. where they spent many years. They returned to New Mexico, where they owned a mobile home park. They returned to Lyons, Ore. where they lived for most of the rest of her life, where she worked at the Post Office. In 2005, she moved with her foster daughter, Barbara Trombley, to Soldotna, where she remained until her passing. Daphna belonged to the Methodist Church and North Fork Quilting Club. She had many hobbies and sewed many, many pieces of clothing for all the family. She made western shirts for Saddle clubs, family and Sheriff's Posse. She was chosen to go to Chicago by the Singer Sewing Machine Co., since she was such a great sewer, to learn how to operate the machine, and in turn, she taught others. She also baked and decorated all of the family's birthday cakes and other occasional cakes. She canned for all the family and strived to help the family at all times. She loved to work in the flowers and garden and did fancy work, such as cross stitch, crocheting and quilting. She managed to make each of the family a beautiful homemade quilt, some two or three. In her older years, she loved to paint and color pictures and read animal and bird books. She was always happy and had a smile on her face. Her family writes, "We will miss her so much as she was wonderful asset to our family." She was preceded in death by her parents, husband of 66 years, James Pyeatt, sons, Benton and Donald Pyeatt, daughter, Virginia Roles, twin brother, David Thurman, brother, Merlin Thurman and sister, Clarice Trombly. She is survived by a stepson, James Pyeatt of Wickenburg, Ariz., sister, Nellie Sheppard of Yuma, Ariz., several grandchildren, nieces and nephews, a many very good friends, inlcuding, Margaret Kergil and Donna Hamilton. Arrangements were by Peninsula Memorial Chapel in Kenai.