Corinne Peterson Ouzts

It is with heavy hearts that we announce the unexpected passing of our dear mother, Corinne Peterson Ouzts, age 77, of Irmo, South Carolina, on Friday, June 27, 2025. A devoted wife, mother, grandmother, sister, and friend, Corinne was a steady presence in the lives of many.

Corinne began her life in Grace, Idaho, the middle child of three girls to the Lona (Roghaar) and Farrell Peterson family. Raised on a farm, she spent her early years moving sprinkler pipes and milking cows in the cold mornings. She always accredited her strong bones, including good teeth, to farm life.

Farm life was the best life. Still, she often recalled with a smile the mercy of her father quietly going about chores on his own when she didn’t get up with the first wake up call. Farm life generated for her no lines between "men’s work" or "women’s work" — just the work that needed doing. She carried this lesson throughout her life. She never shied away from a car’s needed oil change, replacing a tire, mowing the lawn or any “men’s work”. (Nor did she exclude her husband Stacy from the work of changing a baby’s diaper.) She earned the nickname Smurf from great family friends after working on a toilet and the cleaner’s dye left her hands blue for a week.

In her teenage years, her family moved to Midvale, Utah, where Corinne ran track, sang in chorus, and participated in musicals. Though her piano lessons were few, she became a gifted pianist and self-taught organist. She used these talents throughout her life providing music for a countless number of services and events.

Corinne sought higher education at Brigham Young University. She never formally completed that education as she quickly met and fell in love with Stacy and she became a young bride of 19 years of age. Though she was never one to set herself or anyone to soul mates, you’d have never guessed they weren’t given their extreme devotion to each other.

Corinne and Stacy shared 57 years of marriage built on love, faith, and family. They adventured together through his time as a “spy” in Alaska and deployment in what was then Asmara, Ethiopia. She loved reporting on her experience water skiing the Red Sea 9 months pregnant and that she truly had an African American daughter as they welcomed their second child while stationed there. They continued adventuring after leaving active military service with Exxon Oil to Houston, TX and Gillette, WY.

While living in Gillette, Corinne experienced another glorious moment in her life—playing a piano duet with a “world renowned concert pianist”. Gillette’s locale also allowed her to gather up her children for more frequent trips back to visit her parents and sisters’ families. It was a cherished treat for her that she very much missed when she moved across the country to Stacy’s native Charleston, South Carolina where they’d soon welcome their youngest two, a girl and then a boy, who completed their family of nine children.

In Charleston, Corinne continued raising her children, helped with her in-laws, and was a devoted member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Her faith in Jesus Christ was the guiding force of her life. Corinne served in many church roles, among them being called at various times as a Relief Society President, Young Women’s President, Choir Director, Sunday School Teacher, and Ward Organist. Her most loved service came with working in the “local” temple. For years, she and Stacy made a weekly two-hour each way drive from Charleston to Columbia, never missing an opportunity to serve in the house of the Lord.

Corinne filled her adventurous life with scores of trips. She’d make them with so many of us--with Stacy, her sisters Margaret and Pam, her children, and her grandchildren. She never turned down an opportunity for any fun activity—driving a sea-doo, riding a four-wheeler, river rafting, or attending water parks. For some years, she annually took two grandchildren at a time on a cross-country road trip between SC and UT. She’d treat each group of them to traditional adventures at waterparks, amusement parks, waterfalls, river playing, and required canyon dinners with extended family. Family truly meant everything to her.

She often shared the idea of “Twice a child. Once an adult.” As she approached her second child status in life, Corinne and Stacy settled in Irmo, SC to be nearer to most of their grandchildren. Their home quickly became a gathering place filled with laughter, music, games, and stories.

She is preceded in death by her parents Lona & Farrell Peterson, her in-laws Stacy Ouzts Sr. and Virginia (Carlisle) Ouzts, sister Margaret Wadley and Margaret’s husband Jerald Wadley, and brother-in-law Dewin Harris. She is survived by her husband Stacy, sister Pam (Laird) Taggart, brother-in-law David (lynell) Ouzts, sisters-in law Barbara Harris, Regina Ouzts, and Leora Ouzts, her nine children and their spouses—Robb (Teresa), Lisa (Chris) Allen, Julie, Janet (Rob) Brown, Jon (Sue), Peter (Kamy), James (Gabby), Rachael (Steve) Lau, and Stephen (Shari) as well as 31 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren — all of whom are better for having known her light, love, and example.

Corinne's life was marked by quiet strength, unshakable faith, and boundless love. She will be deeply missed, but her legacy will continue to bless generations to come.