Eugene J. Peltier

Mr. Peltier died Friday, Feb. 13, 2004, at The Sweet Life of Rosehill in Shawnee.

He was born March 28, 1910, in Concordia, the son of Frederick and Emma (Falardeau) Peltier. He graduated with honors from Kansas State University in 1933 with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering.

Rear Adm. Peltier was a resident engineer with the Kansas Highway Department from 1933 to 1940, when he was commissioned into the Navy. He advanced to the rank of rear admiral and chief of yards and docks and chief of civil engineers. He retired from the Navy in 1962, when he joined the architectural and engineering firm Sverdrup and Parcel and Associates in St. Louis. He was president and chief executive officer until he retired in 1975.

He was a fellow, life member and past officer of the American Society of Civil Engineers; a member, fellow and past national president of the Society of American Military Engineers; a past president and director of the American Road and Transportation Builders Assn.; a member of the American Public Works Assn.; a fellow of the American Consulting Engineers Council; and a founding member and past president of the Public Works Historical Society. He was a licensed engineer in 13 states.

Rear Adm. Peltier was elected to the Phi Kappa Phi honor society at Kansas State University and to the National Academy of Engineering in 1979. His awards included Legion of Merit upon retiring from the Navy, Top Ten Public Works Men of the Year by the American Public Works Assn. in 1960, Award of Merit from the Consulting Engineers Council in 1962, Special Citation Award from the American Institute of Steel Construction in 1973 and Engineer of the Year from the Missouri Society of Professional Engineers in 1974. KSU bestowed an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 1961 and Distinguished Alumni Award in 1975. He was a charter member of KSU’s Engineering Hall of Fame.

He and Lena Gennette Peltier were married on June 28, 1932, in Concordia. She died in August 1988.

A son, Eugene J. Jr., also died earlier.

Survivors include three daughters, Marion Springer, Lawrence, Carole Coulter, Overland Park, and Anne Peltier, Albany, Ore.; a son, Kenneth N., Brussels, Belgium; two sisters, Theresa Port, Phoenix, and Margaret Kelly, Pasadena, Calif.; 13 grandchildren; and 19 great-grandchildren.

The family suggests memorials to the Eugene J. Peltier Scholarship Fund at the Seabee Memorial Scholarship Assn. in Silver Springs, Md., sent in care of Warren-McElwain Mortuary.

Online condolences may be sent to info@warrenmcelwain.com, subject: Peltier.