Gordon Duane Peterson was born on October 4, 1922, at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the only child of the J.O. Petersons, now of Sparta, Wisconsin. As a son of a Chicago Northwestern railroad engineer, Gordy lived at several points during his childhood, attending school at Adams and Angelo in Wisconsin before going to Sparta where he finished high school. He attended Tulane University under a football scholarship for a year and then entered St. Olaf College. His education there was interrupted in March of 1943 by three years of military service spent in the European theatre where he experienced the horrors of war in the Battle of the Bluge with the 11th Armored Division in the Third Army. In the fall of 1946, he returned to his phy-ed studies at St. Olaf and received his B.A. Degree in 1948. He then entered the University of Minnesota for a course in Mortuary Science which he completed and then joined his father-in-law in the J.H. Lynner Company in the spring of 1949. On March 3, 1946, he was united in marriage to Myra Lynner. This union was blessed with six children: John L. (19) a sophomore at St. Olaf College, Mary (16), G. David (14), Tommy (11), Paul (6), and Naomi, just three. In January of 1956, he and his brother-in-law, Jack Lynner, took over the J.H. Lynner Company as partners and just this last March, dedicated their new Lynner Funeral Home in Clarkfield. Gordy will be missed among the state morticians as he was currently serving as second vice president for the state organization with the presidency in line for him in 1968. Locally, he will be missed in many places. He is current treasurer of the school board of which he has served the board for 13 years. He served many years as trustee of the Clarkfield Lutheran Church; a charter member of the Lions Club and past president; member of the Valley Lodge No. 60 AF and AM of Sparta and the Order of Eastern Star of Clarkfield; treasurer of the Tri County CB Radio Club; past president and active member of the Clarkfield Civic & Commerce Association; member of the J. Ben Johnson American Legion Post; past president of the Southwest District of the St. Olaf Alumni Club; and active in Boy Scout work serving currently as institutional representative on the local board and also a member of the Order of Arrow. Gordy passed away on his mother's birthday, November 7, 1966, having reached the age of 44 years. He will be greatly missed by his wife, Myra, and children, his parents, Mr. and Mrs. J.O. Peterson; his family, Mr. and Mrs. John Lynner, Mrs. and Mrs. Jack Lynner and children and a host of friends and business associates and other relatives. IN MEMORY OF Gordon D. Peterson October 4, 1922 ~ November 7, 1966 Funeral Services Thursday, November 10, 1966, 2:00 p.m. Clarkfield Lutheran Church, Clarkfield, Minnesota Clergy Officiating Rev. C. M. Bagaason Rev. Sigurd Urberg Organist, Mrs. Ronald Donner Vocal Music Lester Mikelson Clarkfield Lutheran Senior Choir Casket Bearers Waldemar Hauge ~ Lloyd Hustvedt Glenn Reichert ~ Don Follingstad Ardine Berkvam ~ John Sayles Final Resting Place Clarkfield Lutheran Cemetery Clarkfield, Minnesota Arrangements by Lynner Funeral Home Since 1891 Clarkfield Minnesota