Peter Colin Chaffey

Peter Chaffey sadly passed away from a major stroke on the evening of Sunday, November 1. He was at home in the house he had lovingly renovated by hand piece by piece for thirty-plus years, and had has his wife and adventure partner, Jeanne, at his side. Thankfully for him, it was fast and painless, but its unexpected nature has left a whole in his loved-ones hearts.

Peter was born in Edgware, Middlesex, England on April 1, 1960. He endured the April fools jokes during his life, but all who knew him knew he was no fool. In his teenage years he moved to Minehead, Somerset - a beautiful village on the Bristol Channel. He went to junior college for electrical engineering, beginning a lifelong passion of tinkering, construction, and creative work with both hand and mind.

Peter always had a wish for adventure, and at the ripe age of 21, heeded the call when he and his friend, Gareth Phillips, decided leave his Native England and head to America. They arrived pasty and wide-eyed in NYC on November 21, 1981. Always one for crafting his own lifestyle, they travelled throughout the United States in a 1962, 6 volt, split-windshield VW bus that had a barn door- a collector's dream. lt became the first of several VW Vans he would commit to, as the speed and lifestyle suited him perfectly. They ventured through Mexico, Belize, and even made it as far Guatemala- before they got stranded by the eruption of El Chichón. lts eruption on Peter's birthday in 1982, after laying dormant for 600 years, began their northern retreat. Eventually, they ran out of money and took jobs in Aspen, Co.

The need for travel and the pull of the ocean would pull Peter to Encinitas, Ca for two years, before visiting Ketchum in 1988. lt was here he found and created his permanent home. He became a woodworker and built beautiful furniture by hand. His commitment to the environment would have him add solar technician to his list of skills and contributions to the world. In the fall of 1989 he met Jeanne Knott while she was working at the old Coffee Grinder, and began a life-long partnership together. They married five years later, committing themselves to a dilapidated house in Triumph, the same house he would pass in. Jeanne, an artist, and Peter, the ever-tinkerer and builder, reconstructed everything but the original fir floor with love. On September 11, 1999, Peter became a father, and thus added the greatest project of his life, when his daughter, and light of his life, Kayla Drew Chaffey was born in the very same house.

Peter was also drawn to the lush environments of the Northwest, where he crafted two small cabins on the raw forest land of Waldron lsland, WA. lt was on an Oregon Coast trip in the summer of 2024, on a trip with Jeanne that Peter carne down with pneumonia. This week-long vacation would became a two month hospital stay at Oregon Health and Science University Hospital where he was diagnosed and underwent treatment for acute myeloid leukemia. Peter returned home, gained strength and returned to OHSU to pursue a bone marrow transplant, the only cure to AML, a year later. Unfortunately, a cascade of events happened this past fall that became too much for Peter's immune system.

Peter's spirit carne alive through traveling and hands-on projects. He was an explorer of the physical world as well as of worlds he could create with his hands, and became a self-taught jack-of-all-trades to keep his passions going. Peter was a quiet and creative man, with a wicked sense of humor, preferably dark, as all who knew him got to experience. Throughout his years, he was part of a garage band called Creation, Maintenance and Decay. He added to his musical skills, learning to play, and then build, the ukulele. Peter was humble, understated and genuine. And he was a wonderful father and husband. He was a master craftsman of the simple life. He will be greatly missed, and went way too soon.

Peter was preceded in death by his brother, Andrew Chaffey, and his father, Colin Chaffey.

He is the survived by his wife, Jeanne Knott, his daughter, Kayla Drew Chaffey, his mother, Barbara Chaffey, his brothers, Christopher and Dave Chaffey, his siblings-in-law, Carolan and Chris McAvoy, David and Kailyn Knott, and all his nieces and nephews, Jessica, Finn, Ella, Ollie, Emily on the Chaffey side, and Lily, Charlie, Fiona, Thalia, Teagan, and Devon on the Knott side.

Donations can be made to National Marrow Donation Program https://giving.nmdp.org We want to thank Dr. Williams and Dr. Saultz, as well as all the compassionate nurses and clinicians who helped him. They are noble people.

There will be a memorial service for Peter in May or June announced in the Mountain Express.