Stephanie A. Messer (Peaker)

MESSER, Stephanie A. (Peaker) 5/15/1968 – 3/31/2021 Stephanie Anne Messer (Peaker) passed away March 31st in Omaha, NE.Her heart, soul, love, compassion, warmth, loving smile and cheer were unconditional and knew no limits. Survived by both parents, Marshall and Sandra Davis; brother John (Heidi) Peaker of Omaha, Jeff Davis of Omaha; Nieces & Nephews, Kirsten, Corey, Seth, Jamie, Jessica, Shane, and Nathan; Uncle Bill Hoppe of Lathrop, MO; Aunt Betty Ferguson of Apple Valley, MN; Her beloved cats, Simba, Zoey, and Nicky; Many other relatives and friends. Celebration of Steph's Life: Friday, April 9th, 2021 at 6:00PM, with visitation one hour prior to the service, all at Braman Mortuary (72nd St. Chapel) In lieu of flowers, memorials to Nebraska Humane Society I’m not sure it is possible to put who Stephie was, her heart, her smile, her soul, her talents, her gifts, or what it was like being blessed to love and know her into a few short paragraphs or even pages… But, we will try… Stephanie Anne Peaker was born on May 15th, 1968 in Omaha, Nebraska to a loving mother Sandra and an older brother John with cute chubby cheeks (see baby photos) who doted on his little sister. Two short years later her little brother Jeff showed up to complete the child part of our family, and a few years after Jeff our family was completed with the arrival of our dad, Marshall Davis. Stephie’s childhood was full of smiles, warmth, love, and two brothers who drove her nuts, but legally that IS what brothers are for! She had many fond memories of us as children going down to spend weekends with our grandparents at their cabin on the Missouri river that we talked about and shared through the years. She and all of us enjoyed shooting fireworks into the river, hiking around the outdoors and seeing all the beauty in nature. Steph definitely enjoyed her grandma’s tasty meals, her macaroni and cheese, but especially grandma’s French toast as they were ohhhhh so yummmyyy and crispy (mom never could replicate that tastiness, but she tried). Stephanie was always a big reader and loved to spend time by herself immersing herself in her books, oh she loved to read throughout her entire life. I can only imagine all of the beautiful stories she dove into while reading, how our thoughts and emotions can get caught up in a good book. Did I mention her smile, she was always smiling her entire life and she was so beautiful! The next phase in Stephie’s life was when we moved to LaVista, NE in the mid 1970’s. We were still young then, ages 6, 8, and 10. The three of us kids always remembered the Christmas we all got new bikes, oh how dad must have been busy putting them together with out us knowing about it! Our new bikes gave us the foot power to go all over LaVista and explore and each of us had so many fun experiences and memories as kids love to ride their bikes, well at least kids back then did! Stephie was very much into baton twirling competition and you can see the many photos of her excelling and enjoying that. The next phase of Stephanie’s life is our years after moving from LaVista to our current home on North 68th St. This was where we all experienced our teenage years, growing into our individual and unique personalities, and growing into our adulthood. Stephie’s teenage years were full of usual teenage fun and her fair share of giving her mom gray hairs, but she also balanced that with getting good grades to make mom happy, which usually meant John and I had to tell mom “my teacher was to blame, not me” while Steph handed in those straight A’s (show off)! At Omaha Benson High School, Steph was very active in DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America) and earned plenty of recognition and awards. In high school Steph started her working career in 1984 when she started working at Target and quickly was recognized for her hard work and was moved to the customer service department. This suited her personality as she loved helping people, was always so understanding and thoughtful even if it was for a perfect stranger, that didn’t matter to her whatsoever. We should mention that these were the years when Stephie became interested in boys, in particular her first love, John Lovings. However, looking at Stephanie’s report cards you would never know she was a rambunctious teenage girl, again, straight A’s. Stephanie graduated high school in 1986 and had earned multiple smaller scholarships along with a full ride Goodrich Scholarship to the University of Nebraska at Omaha. In college she again was very focused on her grades, she was always extremely goal oriented and did the hard work necessary to accomplish her goals (no comment about John and Jeff here). Stephanie’s passion for thinking about and helping others decided what her major would be, psychology. Because her personality and her loving nature made her a natural for wanting to help others, she was always that armchair psychologist for her friends, family, coworkers and I’m sure strangers too. If someone was stressed, worried, or especially if they were hurting, she was there to listen with a compassionate heart and gentle, caring hug. Being thoughtful of others, always with a smile, was just in her DNA, in her nature, in her heart, spirit, and soul. Most of us have to work on that, you know, thinking of what we can do for others, but not to her, whatever she could give of herself she gave freely and without question. She graduated with honors from UNO in May of 1992. She was still working at Target until shortly after she graduated and then started in the mental health field. It was around 1994 that she met her 2nd love, Pete Messer. Stephanie loved going to concerts throughout her life. She used to travel a lot to see a local band she enjoyed, and that is who Pete played guitar for. They fell in love and were married in the summer of 1995. You talk about a beautiful bride, she was it, just look at her and boy oh boy look at that amazing smile she had! She started working for the University of Missouri at Columbia in 1996 and traveled a lot training HR and benefits departments from various schools and businesses about benefits for adults with mental health disabilities. One of her areas was Colorado and when she flew into Denver, she would meet our older stepbrother Marshall Lee (Big Marshall, you’ll know why when you see him) for dinners and even went to a few Broncos games. Since Steph was an avid football fan, she thoroughly enjoyed that! Even though she liked the Broncos, her heart belonged to the Big Red Machine, or what most people would call, the Nebraska Cornhuskers Football Team! During Nebraska games Steph and I (Jeff) would call one another after every touchdown and just shout shout shout, finish up with “okay luvya bye”, until the next touchdown and then we called again! She loved the Big Red and I’m sure she probably lost her voice from cheering so loud! To be honest, she knew the Nebraska teams and players along with the plays better than most people, including me and I played football growing up and through high school. Shortly after she and Pete were married, they bought a house together and she turned it into a home for them. There were many, MANY wonderful family memories there, whether just having family visits, but especially during the holidays as Steph would welcome everyone over, she loved hosting family events. You can tell by all the family photos of this, especially back on their deck where everyone had many a conversation with her, about life, love, sports, and sometimes just to sit and relax in a comfortable silence. When it came to her career, she was always pushing herself to be the best she could be and utilize her God given talents and gifts. On January 23rd, 2001 Stephanie again met a love, her 3rd love named Kirsten “Kirsty” Peaker, her first niece. She fell in love instantly and it became a mother daughter bond. Steph spent most of her time, and money, on taking Kirsty to her salon to get a bob. Steph loved babysitting Kirsty even as a baby and toddler, she and Pete even helped potty train Kirsten. Steph loved spending time with Kirsty even if she was glued to her computer screen for hours, Steph would even go out of her way to buy Kirsten gold for her games because she was so caring and knew it made Kirsty happy, which made her happy. Kirsty’s little brother Corey “doodle bug” Peaker, who would be born in 2004, was Stephanie’s 4th love and her first nephew Within the first 2 weeks of Corey being alive she had his mom over and was taking care of the both of them for an entire week to make sure Heidi and Corey were cared for while Heidi was recovering. She took care of Corey like a second mom through his whole life as him and Kirsten would stay over at least 4 times a week. She would always let him play on her laptop and him and Kirsten would take turns on it every time they were over. She would get him memberships on games he played, and the currencies from those games as well. She always made sure he was ok, and the time Corey cut his head open from being outside, she immediately made sure he was ok and cleaned him up and held him in his arms for hours afterwards. One of the best things she would do was if he couldn’t sleep, she would sing him to sleep, or stay by his side until he did fall asleep. He loved her very much and wouldn’t have made it where he is or shaped him into who he is today without her. She meant more to him than so many things in his life. She helped the two make many memories with Steph’s in-laws, Bernie and Tom. They would take hour long road trips to Stanton, Iowa to see Bernie and Tom on holidays or even just the weekends. Even when Bernie and Tom’s health declined Steph and Pete made sure they spent their final moments with them because that’s how precious family is to us, more specifically, to Steph. Even with the loss of Bernie and Tom and the separation of her and Pete, she still made sure her family was okay. Steph was always there for a shoulder to lean on, or cry on, or even just to talk to because her love was genuine. Her hugs were full of thought and compassion, she knew when you weren’t doing the same. Her hugs were truly unforgettable. No one’s hugs will compare to hers. In 2001 she started working at Community Alliance. At this time, she enrolled in a two-year certification program through the School of Education at Drake University in Des Moines. She studied from home and drove there when needed, in the summer of 2003 she walked across the stage yet again; this time with that certification in Rehab Administration, which would help her in helping others in need. Helping and caring for others was one of her favorite pastimes. She worked there until the summer of 2009 when the economy took its toll on quite a number of people. Afterwards she had difficulty finding employment for some time to come. Unfortunately, more than a few marriages start struggling when there are financial concerns. Additionally, when Stephanie’s in-laws passed away, Bernice in the summer of 2009 and then Tom the Fall of 2014, this really took a toll on both Stephanie and Pete as they spent a lot of weekends visiting them. Regrettably, all of this seems to have been a contributing factor in Stephanie’s and Pete’s marriage, and in the Spring of 2015, they decided to sell their beautiful home, and go their separate ways. That August of 2015, Stephanie moved in with her mother, partly to help her as our mom is advancing in years, as well as to help Stephanie get her feet underneath her after her separation, and soon to be divorce. Any marriage that ends leads to difficulties for both parties, and Stephanie was no exception. Stephanie struggled with the loss of her marriage, home, family (in-laws) and all the dreams people have about their future as a married couple. Stephanie still enjoyed fun times and went to as many concerts as possible with her siblings, we could name quite a few. However, she never seemed to rebound from her divorce, and really struggled with that loss and the loss of her career earlier. She loved all of her family dearly, and enjoyed EVERY family function, always with a smile. I don’t recall really ever seeing her not smiling, well unless one of her brothers irked her by sticking their foot in their mouth! Stephanie loved her mother dearly as a mother and daughter have a very special relationship and bond, she was so grateful to be living with our mom and be able to take care of her. She adored and doted on her dad too and had many smiling and loving moments spending time with them, going to the grocery store with my dad was actually one of her weekly fun “chores”, because she got to spend it with him, and the two of them would talk about God knows what. Even though she experienced heartache and disappointment, she always stayed positive and hopeful for her future. And then, the most devastatingly painful day our family will ever go through. On March 31, 2021 Stephanie left us all far too young at the age of 52. From here on that will always be a day that everyone who knows and loves Stephanie will think about her and just sigh and think to themselves, God I miss her, she was so special…. From all of your family and friends Stephie, we love you, and will always miss you. Until we all meet again in heaven…. Braman Mortuary (72 St. Chapel) 1702 N. 72 St. Omaha, NE68114 402-391-2171