Cynthia E. Peterson

Cynthia Elslyn Peterson passed away peacefully on December 24, 2024. She grew up in Lansing, Michigan where she had a great memory of a wonderful childhood shared with her brother Don. They especially enjoyed going to their family cabin on Houghton Lake in the spring and summer months. Cindy went to Eastern High School in Lansing, where she was a member of an award-winning synchronized swim team.

After living in Thousand Oaks, Ventura, and Newberry Park, California for about 5 years she moved to Port Orchard, Washington. She fell in love with the beauty of Western Washington and never left! She enjoyed leisure walks, camping, and having family gatherings at her green farm home in Olalla.

While living in Olalla she started her most favorite tradition “Christmas cookie Night” Every family member decorated their favorite cookie shape whether it was a tree, snowflake, angel or the first letter of your name. Cookie Night grew to being more than just cookies and became a dinner that all would contribute to. The family still carries out this wonderful tradition at her son Tim’s home every year.

Before Cindy obtained an Associate of Arts degree at Olympic college, she worked as a waitress and as a manager at several restaurants. At the end of her career, she worked as a “Tool room Attendant” at Boeing where she was also the Union Steward for her shop.

Cindy was an active member of First Lutheran church. She served as president of the board for some of the time and was always willing to volunteer. From helping provide meals to those in need to organizing various landscaping projects around the church, she served to help others.

In retirement she volunteered at Coffee Oasis in Port Orchard. The youth would lovingly refer to her as grandma. She was a comforting presence for the kiddos that needed a hug or just someone to talk to. They also liked that she always had snacks and candy for them. Along with volunteering with Coffee Oasis she also served as a part time bailiff at the courthouse. Her organizational skills and affection for doing things by the book made her a popular choice by the courts for several big cases throughout the years.

Especially in her retirement years, Cindy loved to travel with her friends to places such as many countries in Europe, the east coast to see the leaves turn in the fall, ocean trips, and to Canada to see the 2010 Olympics! She also loved to visit and travel with her beloved brother Don and his loving wife Kristal who live in Maine. She and her brother were very close and would talk on the phone often. They loved to joke around and share family and grandchildren stories. Cindy loved to listen to her brother recall stories from their lives as he is great with words and bringing you back to that moment. Stories about their childhood and their parents Howard and Roberta Bouwens and the events throughout their lives.

Cindy lived a complete life full of wonderful memories and is survived by some amazing children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren that are living their best lives.

Cindy is preceded in death by her parents Howard and Roberta Bouwens. She is survived by her two sons, Timothy (Claire) and Shannon (Carol) Mackie and a daughter, Stacy (Adriel) Maldonado. She was blessed with eight grandchildren: Denise, Brooke, Howard, Madilynn, Elijah, Nicholas, Jakob and Grace.

She was doubly blessed with seven great grandchildren: Amelia, Gabrielle, Elslyn, Aiden, Avery, Easton and Saul. Cindy is also survived by her brother, Don (Kristal) Bouwens and his family: Sarah, Alex and Quinn.

Cindy will be greatly missed by all who knew her. We would like to thank Kaiser Permanente Hospice for their professional and gentle care of Cindy in her last few months. We would also like to thank the Stafford Suites Care team for their love, devotion and care of our mother. She always felt safe and well cared for, she often spoke of her care team and how much she enjoyed their company.