Beulah "Florine" (Davis) Peecher Alternate spelling - Florene, Florein

Birth: She was born around 1905 in Illinois.  

Family Information: Married Chester R. Peecher on February 24, 1923 at Pittsfield, Illinois.

Mother of Frances (Karamales), Robert, Roy, Carl and Lyndle Peecher.  

Description:  

Pre-Colony History: She and Chester brought their family to the colony in 1930.

Home in Colony: In 1930 and 1935 the family was living in the Newllano Colony -- in 1930 Chester's father, Frank; his sister, Vera; and her children were living with them there.  

Job in Colony: In 1932 Mrs. Peecher was missing from her job in the sewing room because she was at home taking care of an unnamed child who had presented himself at the Peecher home needing her care.

In 1933 she was part of a group of ladies who had just completed canning more than 100 cans of foodstuffs for outside customers; later she helped can green tomato relish, tomatoes, egg plant, okra and more at the cannery which had just received bright yellow labels to dress up their canned goods.

In 1935 she was made the bakery manager. In 1981 she remembered, "In the bakery, we had a big machine we mixed the dough in. We put about 200 pounds of flour in it. We had a big long trough we put it into to let it rise. And then we'd make it into loaves and we'd make about 300 loaves at a time. We'd light the oven with a torch. We also made pies and cookies. Most of it went to the hotel... and the rest was sold outside."

In 1936, the bakery department prepared sandwiches for the first of a series of Summer Dances at the Roof Garden. Her crew at the time consisted of Vivian Crossland, chief assistant; Iris and Mrs. Busick; Glen Burns who did much of the heavy work; and Sylvester Watson who helped on Saturday when the heaviest baking was done.  

Other Info:  

Post-Colony History: In 1940 the family was living in a home in the unincorporated New Llano, Louisiana (site of the old colony).

In 1973 she and Chester celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary with a party hosted by their children at the home of their son, Carl Peecher. Former colonist Sylvester Watson and his wife came from Sulphur, Louisiana to attend.

In March 1988 they celebrated 65 years together -- for this anniversary their 5 children gave them airplane tickets to Topock, Arizona to visit Mr. Peecher's brother. Over the years she'd worked at the Fort Polk PX and hospital and spent 19 years as the cashier at the Polk Theater.

Death: She died in 1997 at Rosepine, Louisiana and was buried in the Forest Lawn Memorial Cemetery at Leesville, Louisiana. Funeral services were held in the Beauregard-Vernon Chapel at Leesville with the Rev. Wallace Palmer officiating.  

Sources: US Census: 1930, 1940; "Llano Colonist" January 2, 1932, July 29, 1933, August 5, 1933, April 13, 1935, March 14, 1936, May 30, 1936, May 15, 1937; "Leesville Leader": March 8, 1973; Times Picayune: September 9, 1981; "Leesville Daily Leader": March 23, 1988, February 28, 1997; FindAGrave.com