Brian Steve Peachey, 29

Brian Steve Peachey was born on April 7, 1995, in Alexandria, Minn. He departed this earthly life on April 23, 2024, at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. His death was due to heart failure.

Brian’s family home in his very early life was near Starbuck, Minn. In 1997, when Brian was 2 years old, he and his family moved to northwest Arkansas and lived on a poultry farm near Gentry. Brian’s childhood was filled with the normal and happy routine of chores, school, church, and the other activities that make growing up in the country an adventure and delightful time. Brian received a formal education of eight years at the Gentry Mennonite School, and his fellow classmates continued to be his friends through the years. 

At a young age, Brian felt the burden of his own sin and accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Savior. He received an experience of new birth and was baptized on March 18, 2007, by Minister Jack Burns, becoming a member of the Church of God in Christ, Mennonite at Gentry, Ark. Brian’s experience of being saved was very clear to him, and he never doubted it. 

For a couple of summers during his youth, he went to southern Idaho and drove a truck in silage harvest. As Brian grew up and became a young man, he desired to establish a home of his own. In a wonderful way, God brought me, Shelley Dirks to Gentry, Ark., as a schoolteacher and into Brian’s life. 

On June 27, 2021, Brian and Shelley joined hearts and hands at Bonners Ferry, Idaho. From that day forward our lives were blessed with a very special bond. Although we only had about three years together, I am blessed to have been the one Brian chose to spend the rest of his life with. Brian thought the world of Shelley and she was a true companion for him, helping him through some of his difficult times. Brian and Shelley made their home in Gentry and found joy and goodness in their lives made one. 

Brian was employed at the Spavinaw Stove Store in Gentry. He enjoyed his work there and was able to interact with many different people, putting his efforts into the different business aspects of servicing and installing fireplaces and stoves. For the school term of 2022-23 Brian and Shelley relocated to Yuma, Ariz., where Shelley once again became a schoolteacher while Brian found employment in working for the Schmidt family. Here as well as anywhere Brian and Shelley went, they made fast friends. 

Brian bore a unique health challenge throughout his short life that affected his heart and lungs. Through childhood, he sustained many doctor and hospital visits and accepted all that accompanied his condition as part of his life. We never heard him complain about his health, and he loved living life to the fullest. In the last six months of his life, he together with Shelley went through a number of health crises, and we realized Brian’s heart was failing. It was through this we were directed to the prospect of a heart and lung transplant and were referred to Vanderbilt University Hospital because of their skill and knowledge. Brian won the hearts of the medical professionals at Vanderbilt; it seemed they were almost as heartbroken as we were when the transplant was not successful. 

Family meant a lot to Brian; his nieces and nephews were a bright spot to him, and he enjoyed interacting with them immensely. He enjoyed friendship and was usually current in communicating with those he knew well. 

The last couple of weeks of Brian’s life were a little miracle of renewed health that God blessed us with. Brian is now at rest and unfettered from the limitations that plagued him in life. He left us with a clear assurance of being at peace with God, and we believe he is free, awaiting the glorious day when he, together with all the saved will rise healed and complete by eternal life. 

Those left grieving by his absence are his adoring wife, Shelley of Gentry, Ark.; his parents, Elmer and Leah, of Maysville, Ark.; brothers and sister, Virgil and Carolee, of Greeneville, Tenn., Justin and Michelle, of Siloam Springs, Ark., Kenyon and Sierra of Fredonia, Kan., Suzanne and Blake, of Mize, Miss.; parents-in-law Grant and Nadine Dirks of Bonners Ferry, Idaho; brothers-in-law and sister-in-law, Brenton and Kayla Dirks, Bonners Ferry, Idaho, Ashley and Michael Martin, of Ronan, Mont., Dustin and Lawanda Dirks, of Bonners Ferry, Idaho, Mitchell and Maria Dirks, Bonners Ferry, Idaho, Brendan Dirks of Bonners Ferry, Idaho; his paternal grandparents, Steve and Susie of Belleville, Pa.; and 23 nieces and nephews. Brian is preceded in death by one infant brother, his maternal grandparents, and one nephew. 

Brian’s family would like to express a special note of appreciation to the staff at Vanderbilt for the extraordinary care and attention they have shown to Brian.