Eva Ann Peterson

Madison - Eva Ann Peterson, age 88, died at the Oakwood West nursing home on Friday, February 26, 2010. She was born in Winfield Township (near Reedsburg, WI) on September 20, 1921, the daughter of Anna (Pelton) and Claude Mundth. She attended a one-room elementary school and graduated from Reedsburg High School. She attended the University of Wisconsin and Madison Cosmetology College.

On February 13, 1944 in Reedsburg, WI she married Arthur E. Peterson of Curtiss, WI. She joined him at Camp Crowder, MO and worked at a beauty salon there, and later in Philadelphia, when Art was transferred to that Signal Corps Depot prior to his going overseas.

Eva worked in Madison at the Nyberg Beauty Salon on the square until Art returned from service. She then worked at the Hamilton Supply Co. After her three children were in school she worked part time at Gimbels until it closed. She also worked part time for 15 years at the Wisconsin State Crop Reporting Service until she retired.

Eva was a member of the U.W. College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Daughter of Demeter and the University League Group. She belonged to the Midvale Circle of Bethel Lutheran Church and the Bethel Couples Club. She was a member of People to People, the Civics Club, the Bascom Hill Society and a volunteer at the Oakwood Lutheran Home. She also served as Cub Scout leader. She loved decorating Christmas packages (especially children's) using creative things other than ribbons. During the early days of TV she did a Christmas show on WHA-TV about wrapping gifts. Eva loved to play bridge and belonged to several bridge clubs that she thoroughly enjoyed.

 

Eva also liked to travel and frequently accompanied her husband, a professor in Soil Science, on trips at home and abroad. The most extensive and interesting trip was living with their three sons in Egypt from 1965-1967, while her husband (on leave to the Rockefeller Foundation) worked on a Corn Improvement Program with the Ministry of Agriculture. The June War cut short their stay in Egypt and they lived and worked in Thailand for three months en route back to Madison.

Eva is survived by her husband, Arthur; her three sons, Donald (Linda) Eden Prairie, MN, Robert (Barbara) Milwaukee, and William (Lois) Middleton; six grandchildren, Jennifer, Jason, Caitlin, Mahalia, Anne and Heidi; one great-grandson, Dominic; and many cousins, relatives and friends. Special persons who preceded her in death were her mother and father, Anna (Mundth) Claridge and Claude Mundth and her stepfather Alvin Claridge.

Services will be held Tuesday, March 2, 2010 at 11:00 AM at BETHEL LUTHERAN CHURCH, 312 Wisconsin Ave., Madison with Rev. William R. White officiating. Friends may meet the family before the service from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM. Burial will be at Sunset Memory Garden, Mineral Point Road. The family wishes to express their special thanks to HospiceCare, Inc. and to the staff of Oakwood West Rehabilitation Unit (Hebron Hall) for their nearly four years of excellent care.

The family suggests that memorials be made to the TV Media Ministry of Bethel Lutheran Church, 312 Wisconsin Ave., Madison, WI 53703.