Arburl "Pete" Lamphear

Arburl "Pete" Lamphear, age 87 of Kalamazoo, died on December 17, 2021 while in hospice. She was born on September 22, 1934, in Kalamazoo, the daughter of Faythe Brewer. She was often described as having "Grit", outgoing, with a great smile. She had a giving nature, creating an extended family with neighborhood children wherever she lived.

Pete was a graduate of Kalamazoo Central High School and the University of Wisconsin (at age 36). She worked and volunteered at the Cystic Fibrosis and American Heart Associations, the Edison Neighborhood Association, and was co-director of Saint Luke's Transitions program and resale shop. She was proud of her years working with the Lac Courte Oreilles tribal community as a teacher and administrator. While there she wrote and received a grant to create a fire department, received training, then grabbed a hose and shovel, assisting on several fires. She was a piano teacher, beginner's bridge instructor in her home living room, and could paint a window off a 2-story ladder, replace roofing, and build a new wall (things she learned not because she wanted to, but because "they had to be done"). At the age of 78 she told her husband "I'm never going up on a roof again."

She enjoyed summer days at Lake Michigan on their sailboat, and winter hours cuddling with her cat Penny (who she named because "he wasn't worth 2 cents").

Pete was involved with Senior Services programs and had been part of the tap-dancing group at age 81. She recently moved to Dillon Hall in the Nazareth complex, where she felt she had gone full circle since her childhood days at Nazareth Academy.

She spent one year at WMU in 1952 to become a classically trained piano player, and 'to meet a boy'. She did both. On April 18, 1954, she married Gerald Lamphear, who preceded her in death. She was also preceded in death by her children, Matthew, Karl and Laura. She is survived by her sons: Paul (Sam Lealofi) Lamphear and Daniel (Karen Van der Linden) Lamphear; 8 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren; her half-sister, Foxie (Dusty) Rivers; and her stepbrother Rodney (Linda) Allen. Please visit Pete's personalized online guestbook at https://www.langelands.com