Errollynne Peters lived life to the fullest: hot romance, inflammatory breast cancer, lymphodema, fine wine, Tennessee Walking horses, yachting, corporate women in the early 80’s, bulimia, yo-yo dieting, growing up in the Midwest, Portland Oregon, romance, affairs with married men, loving unavailable men. Her memoir, Cornfield Heiress, was a no-holds-barred look at her life and we were lucky to have the chance to work with this fearless woman in 2009 to promote her self-published memoir.

Penny initially met Errollynne at a Changing Hands event in Arizona. She sat up front, book in hand, smiling, taking notes – eager to learn. She was so vivacious, and used to sign her emails Miss E, which we loved.

As full of joie de vivre as Errollynne was, sadly her cancer returned, and she died last week.

One of my favorite observations about Errollynne’s book came from Candy at Candy’s Raves (and Rants) review blog, where she concluded her review with: “It’s about a woman’s life. A real woman, a woman who made mistakes (lots of them) and good decisions (lots of those too). She’s not famous, she may not even be noteworthy. I think that’s what made it all the more fascinating to read.” Candy had enjoyed the memoir but also had a lot of questions remaining after she read the book, which she mentioned in her review, and Errollynne was good enough to thank Candy for the review AND respond to her questions. In fact, Errollynne took the time to thank and respond to each reviewer who took the time to review Cornfield Heiress.

Errollynne was the first born child of 5, grew up in Iowa, and spent summers at her beloved Lake Okoboji. She attended Augustana College in Sioux Falls, SD until her senior year and finished her degree in French and English at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa. In high school she was the piano accompanist for the vocal chorus and in college she participated in campus theater. Her love of the arts continued in Spokane, Washington where she was active in community theater. She sang jazz vocals with the Gleemen and Girls in Portland OR for 12 years and was an occasional singing guest at Wilf’s in Portland. She taught school for 12 years before venturing into the private sector. Her corporate career included various managerial positions in training and marketing and culminated in community relations with a Fortune 500 company in Phoenix. She also taught high school English.

If there’s a lesson here, it’s pretty simple: live life to the fullest. Because Errollynne chose to share her life via her memoir, we all got to go on the adventure with her. We’re glad to have been a part of it.