Muriel B. Peterson

Muriel Peterson, age 96, passed away peacefully at home, in Fergus Falls, with her children at her side, on Saturday, October 3, 2015.

Mom was born in Edmore, ND, on April 1, 1919, to Otto Severin Wing and Worthy Black Wing, joining her two older sisters, Bea and Gertrude. Her father was a house painter and decorator and her mother was postmaster (“postmistress” in those days) for five years, until displaced by the FDR Administration in 1933.

When mom was fifteen, her dad died and her mother moved back to her former home in Eastern Ontario. Unfazed by this double departure, mom moved in with her sister and brother-in-law, became Miss Edmore High that year, and two years later graduated as salutatorian of the Class of 1937. Two years later, mom graduated from Mayville State Teachers’ College and began teaching a motley lot of six to fifteen year olds in northwest North Dakota. She met dad, Ernest “Penney Pete” Peterson the day she moved to Langdon in the fall of 1942. They were married in June of 1943, remaining together until dad’s passing six years ago. During their sixty-six years together, dad was the breadwinner for the family of five, as he managed J.C. Penney stores, including two successive buildings in downtown Fergus Falls.

Mom ran the household and shaped our lives with the sustained energy that demands, leading boy and girl scouts, teaching Sunday School, belonging to Eastern Star, hospital auxiliary, PEO, meals on wheels and over fifty years of membership in Grace United Methodist Church.

In 1972, a sixth family member came under mom’s tender wing, when AFS student Yvette Xavier of Malaysia joined mom and dad’s youngest, Barb, as a senior at FFHS. That relationship has endured for decades, with Yvie visiting many times over the years and mom and dad visiting her and her extended family in Malaysia.

Mom is survived by us, David (Nancy) Peterson of Arpin, WI, Diane Landry of Westford, MA, and Barb (Sam Wathen) Peterson of Conway, SC.

She is also survived by seven grandchildren, Jennifer (Adam Siner) Peterson of San Diego, CA, Nicole (Chad) Gjere of LaCrescent, MN, Amanda Peterson of Paris, France, Bradford Landry of Malden, MA, Matthew Landry of Santa Cruz, CA, Hannah Wathen of Charleston, SC and Isaac Wathen of Tempe, AZ; three great-grandchildren, Henry and Grace Siner and Harris Gjere. She was preceded in death by her parents, sisters and husband.

Mom’s saintly patience, her selflessness and her unflagging optimism, her devotion to family and friends were a constant delight and inspiration.

Thanks, mom. We will always love you.

A special thanks to the folks at PioneerCare of Fergus Falls, where mom spent the last twelve years of her life and we are grateful for the excellent, comforting guidance provided by the Olson Funeral Home.

Memorial preferred to Grace United Methodist Church or PioneerCare.

Online condolences may be sent to www.olsonfuneralhome.com
Visitation: One hour prior to the service at Grace United Methodist Church in Fergus Falls
Service: 11:00 AM on Thursday, October 8, 2015, at Grace United Methodist Church in Fergus Falls
Clergy: Reverend Wesley Gabel