La Verne Marjorie Peterson's Obituary
LaVerne Marjorie Peterson was born on February 11, 1927 in Oakes, North Dakota to Arthur W. and Lucille Marie (Degnuf) Christenson. She grew up in North Dakota, Ames, Iowa, Battle Lake, Minnesota and Henning, Minnesota. She graduated from Henning High School, in 1945. She was united in marriage to John Melvin Peterson on December 10th, 1945 at Crile General Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio where John was serving in the United States Navy. When John was discharged from the Navy, LaVerne and John returned to Henning, Minnesota where they where they began to work as a team in a number of vocational activities such as mapmaking and mink farming , a teamwork that would continue for a lifetime. John, LaVerne and daughter Paula moved to Inglewood, California in 1951. While John attended College at Northrop Institute of Technology, LaVerne worked on her 'putting hubby through school degree' by working as a Secretary at Northrop Aircraft Corporation. After graduation in 1953, the family moved to San Diego, California where John began work as an engineer at Ryan Aeronautical Company and LaVerne began work as Administrative Assistant to the Director of Flight Test for the Convair Corporation. She also continued to make a wonderful home for the family and concentrated on raising daughter Paula. During this time, LaVerne continued the teamwork with John which began at their marriage and continued until the Lord called her home. She unfailingly supported John in all his endeavors. For example, the San Diego Junior Chamber of Commerce selected two candidates for the 1957 Aerospace Achievement Award. LaVerne was the Administrative Assistant to one of the candidates, the Program Director of the installation of the Atlas ICBM missiles in their silos across the nation during the cold war. The other candidate was her husband, John, for the design of the Ryan XV-5A Jet vertical Takeoff Aircraft. John was the ultimate winner, thanks in no small part to LaVerne, the 'woman behind the man' LaVerne loved San Diego, especially the times spent sailing their sailboat up and down the Pacific coast and in Mission Bay and San Diego Harbor. Throughout her life, LaVerne loved to play the her organ and piano and was a long time member of the San Diego Bowline League. Although LaVerne loved San Diego, her roots were always in Minnesota. She waited with great anticipation for the family's annual automobile trip to Minnesota to visit family and friends. The trip would begin with a departure from San Diego at 5:00 PM on Friday and an arrival in Henning Minnesota at 6:00 AM on the following Monday, unless they stopped to fish at Yellowstone. LaVerne loved to catch, cook and eat fish. Fishing for Sunfish, Wallyes and Northern Pike was the highlight of the trips to Minnesota.In about 1972, John left Ryan to start a small Engineering and Real Estate Investment Company and LaVerne became a very successful licensed Real Estate Agent in San Diego. Always a wonderful hostess, LaVern loved to entertain and made lifelong friends wherever they lived.After brief moves to China Lake, California and Washington DC, John and LaVerne moved to Huntsville Alabama in 1986 where John began work at Teledyne Brown as an Engineer. While in Huntsville, LaVerne made many friends in the church and community and loved to fish in the many lakes in Huntsville. As she and John began their life in Huntsville, they began listening to the Sunday Television program of Pastor Jimmy Jackson's Whitesburg Baptist Church and later started attending the actual church services. On March 3d, 1971 both John and LaVerne accepted Christ at the morning service, were baptized during the evening service and have lived their life for the Lord ever since. Laverne's walk with the Lord grew rapidly in the Whitesburg Baptist Church and she lived for the annual 'I Love America' program presented just before the Forth of July.Although LaVerne's faith and walk with the Lord continued from that date forward, like most of us, from time to time, she struggled to believe that she was worthy of this wonderful salvation. During her six-week hospital stay, she refused to watch any Television, preferring to dwell on the promises of the Lord and continue to discuss her worthiness with her family. About 3 weeks ago, LaVerne had a wonderful experience with the Lord where the Holy Spirit gave her absolute confidence that Christ had accepted her as she was, that salvation was indeed hers and that Christ was waiting for her in heaven. From that day on, her three goals were to witness about this remarkable experience to her loved ones, to return to her home in Broken Arrow and to go home to be with the Lord. She accomplished all three of these goals.During their 16 years in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, LaVern truly loved the time spent as member of the First Baptist Church of Broken Arrow (3 years) and Arrow Heights Baptist Church in Broken Arrow (13 years). LaVerne particularly enjoyed the fellowship found at the weekly dinners at both churches, the senior adult Sunday school and especially the game nights (dominoes) at Arrow Heights Baptist. LaVern also loved the time spent with the family at Ron and Paula's place at Lake Ten killer. She loved to fish and enjoyed fish dinners at Tenkiller.God blessed the life of John and LaVerne in many ways, but in no way more than to bless them with a wonderful family consisting of Daughter Paula, Son-in-Law Ron, Granddaughter Dawn, and Husband Russ, granddaughters Finley and Sawyer and their extended family.LaVerne is survived by her husband John, Daughter Paula, Grandaughter Dawn and Great Grandchildren Finley and Sawyer.
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