Peyton Janae Poler joined Heaven’s ranks on Feb. 16, 2025, following a short battle with bile duct cancer.

Born on March 21, 2000, to parents Steve and Hillary, Peyton’s life was one defined by love, light, and laughter. After spending her infancy in Aberdeen with twin sister Julia, the Poler family moved to Montesano. Sister Ava and brother Bode arrived soon after, completing the Poler “six-pack” and kicking off over two decades of family love and sibling shenanigans. Being a sister was one of Peyton’s favorite roles, and there were few things she enjoyed more than playing and maturing alongside Julia, Ava, and Bode.

Thanks to her fiercely competitive nature, Peyton fell in love with sports at a young age. She played soccer (and won a state championship in 2013), but fastpitch was by far her favorite. As a catcher, Peyt’s presence behind home plate loomed much larger than her small frame, and her left-handed bat production was rarely contained by the infield. With her signature two braids at her back, her teammates would break out in an eponymous chant when she was up to bat: “Peyton! Peyton Poler! Peyton, Peyton, Peyton, Peyton Poler!” That cheer would punctuate three state championships: one with her Lady Bulldogs travel team in 2014 and the other two on Montesano High School’s 1A state championship squads in 2015 and 2017.

After graduating from MHS in 2018, Peyton would go on to play fastpitch at Northwest Christian University (now Bushnell) in Eugene. She was a valued teammate at NCU before transferring to Northwest University in Kirkland in 2020 to focus on her education. She graduated from NU in 2023 with a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education and was working toward completing her Master of Education degree when she was diagnosed.

In 2023 Peyton was hired to teach second grade at Rainier Elementary School. Her classroom was a haven of patience, curiosity, and respect, and she was adored by all her students (22 in her inaugural class and 18 this year). To teach was Peyt’s calling in life, and she managed to do that both in the classroom and on the field.

While in college, she coached multiple youth soccer and fastpitch teams in the Puget Sound area, and she remained a frequent mainstay in Monte dugouts, instilling a legacy of passion, hard work, and integrity in all who played for her.

An avid sportswoman, Peyton was always chasing the next adventure and the mountain view that came with it. She enjoyed hunting, fishing, water skiing, snow skiing, and hiking. She loved Jesus, her family, fastpitch, Johnny Cash, Disney, telling jokes, and spending time with the people she loved.

Everyone who knew Peyton admired her for her infectious smile and fun-loving personality. She loved others with reckless abandon and complete joy, and was an incomparable daughter, sister, granddaughter, niece, cousin, friend, coach, coworker, and teacher.

Peyton joins in Heaven her beloved grandfather, John Poler, and is survived by her parents Steve and Hillary; siblings Julia, Ava, and Bode; grandmother Sue Poler, grandparents Vanessa and Randy Horning, aunt and uncle Autumn and Kevin Schultz, aunt and uncle Stacey and Ryan Poler, and cousins Chandler (Josiah), Clementine (Jace), Campbell, Chesney, Calliope, Megan, Nathan, and Hattie.

Her legacy lives on in countless friends and extended family, and in her second grade class at Rainier Elementary School.

A celebration of life will be held Sunday, March 16, at 2 p.m. at the Montesano High School Gym. All who knew and loved her are welcome.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Peyton Poler Memorial Scholarship at the Grays Harbor Community Foundation for future distribution to Montesano and Rainier High School students or to the Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation.