Bette Lyn Payne Peterson

Our beloved mother, wife, sister, grandmother, and great-grandmother, Bette Lyn Payne Peterson passed from this life peacefully at age 84 on April 18, 2024, at home in Mesa, Arizona, surrounded by her husband and all four of her adult children.

Bette was born July 8, 1939, in Oakland, California to Ezrel Junius Payne and Helen Dixon Payne, the second of two children. Her older sister Barbara, just 18 months her senior, became a beloved playmate and close friend her entire life. Growing up, the family moved frequently, finding homes in Provo, Utah, and Phoenix and Mesa, Arizona. While her family didn’t have much in terms of earthly riches, they had an abundance of love, creativity, and faith. Bette learned to sew from her mother and became an accomplished seamstress.

Bette was beautiful inside and out. She was a smart student and hard worker. She became the first female student body president in elementary school (K-8), and, as a senior in high school, served as student body treasurer. She was featured in the paper in a small group voted “Most Outstanding” by her senior class. She loved to dance and was a pom-pom cheerleader. Bette attended one year at BYU in Provo.

She met and fell in love with Robert Warren Peterson (Bob) while at home in Phoenix. They dated and were married in the Mesa, Arizona LDS Temple. While Bob attended medical school at the University of Southern California, Bette worked as a secretary in the Intern Training Office at the Los Angeles County General Hospital. They eventually returned to Phoenix, where they raised their four children.

Bette loved Bob, her family, and the gospel of Jesus Christ. She kept an impeccable home and supported her children in their many endeavors. She loved serving at church in numerous callings, including Stake Primary President and Ward Relief Society President. She served with Bob as Mission Leaders of the Hamburg Germany Mission for three years, where she taught, fed, and loved the missionaries. She traveled frequently through East Germany into Berlin, witnessing the historic fall of the Berlin Wall.

She loved her extensive travels with Bob, but she often said she really just enjoyed being anywhere with Bob, whom she adored. The couple built a beautiful home, largely of Bette’s design, on the cliffs of St. George while Bob started a post-mission practice. They served a second mission based in Frankfurt, Germany, for 18 months. After they eventually returned to Arizona to be near grandchildren, Bette volunteered for over ten years as a temple worker in the Mesa, Arizona temple. Through all this, Bette dealt with physical ailments, including a congenital heart defect that in 1977 required an artificial heart valve, as well as in Frankfurt experiencing total hearing loss, which was only somewhat remedied with cochlear implants. Bette never complained.

Bette was dignified, gracious, and soft spoken, but she was passionate about her family. She showed this love for her grandchildren by sewing beautiful blessing clothes and blankets for them, faithfully attending their recitals, sports events, and graduations, planning multiple yearly treasure hunts, and giving each of them an ornament every Christmas. She had an infallible memory and provided a card with a “little bit of cash” at every birthday and anniversary. She greeted her first great-grandchild in December 2023 with the same eagerness and affection she showed all the others.

We will miss our “Sweet Bette” as Papa (Bob) called her. She has created a lasting legacy by her example of exact obedience, active faith, endurance, and unconditional kindness and love.

Bette was preceded in death by her parents and her sister, Barbara Ipsen. She is survived by her beloved husband Robert and by her children, Kristi Peterson, Lisa (Rick) Allen, Brian (Sharla) Peterson, David (Sharon) Peterson; 12 grandchildren and 1 great-grandchild. Interment at Mesa City Cemetery in Mesa, Arizona.

There will be a visitation for Bette, Friday May 3, 2024 at Bunker’s Garden Chapel, 33 N Centennial Way, Mesa, AZ 85201 from 6-8:00 pm. There is also time one hour prior to her service on Saturday May 4, 2024. The service will begin at 10:30 am Saturday May 4, 2024 at the LDS Chapel at 2549 N 32nd Street, Mesa, AZ 85213.

For those unable to attend it can be streamed using the following link:

https://zoom.us/j/81465908734?pwd=OEtXZDRqdlppY25LYVFReDBDMldlQT09

Arrangements by Bunker’s Garden Chapel, www.bunkerfuneral.com. Should this obituary appear anywhere but bunkerfuneral.com, please check our website for accurate details and service information.