PHILLIPS COUNTY
Colorado
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Last updated December 2018
MERLE FRANCIS (MARTIN) PETERSON
Holyoke Enterprise, Holyoke, Colorado, January 13, 2005
Merle Francis Peterson, 93, of Hatton, North Dakota, died Friday, January 7 at the Tri-County Nursing Home at Hatton, North Dakota. Merle was born January 19, 1911 near Holyoke to Frank and Ursula Maude (Miller) Martin. On August 22, 1929 she was married to Roy James Peterson. They had five children, including Ronald, Maudine, Gerald (Jerry), Mary and Martin (Marty). During their life together they lived in several towns in Colorado and Nebraska before settling in Gibbon, Nebraska in 1947. Roy died in 1953. Merle raised two children still at home, working as a clerk in several stores in Kearney,Nebraska, but longest at the Corner Drug Store in Gibbon, Nebraska where she enjoyed selling candy to school children. In later years she lived with her daughter Mary in North Dakota during the winters, and in 1996 she sold her house in Gibbon, Nebraska and moved to North Dakota permanently. She has been a resident at the Tri-County Nursing Home in Hatton, North Dakota since October
2002.
Merle worked for and received her Amateur Radio License in 1976. She was a member and Past Noble Grand of the Rebecca Lodge in Gibbon, Nebraska, a member of the Faith United Methodist Church in Gibbon, Nebraska and a member of the Hatton American Legion Auxiliary. She will be laid to rest next to her husband in the family plot at Pleasant Valley Cemetery, close to her family's homestead where she was raised, and the sand hills she loved so much, near Holyoke.
She was preceded in death by brothers Alva and Jay Martin, sister Nola Poe and sons Gerald (Jerry) and Ronald. She is survived by sisters Laura Smith of Deland, Florida; daughters Maudine Cross of Fernley, Nevada and Mary Carlson of Hatton, North Dakota; son Martin "Marty" of Henderson; 13 grandchildren, 36 great grandchildren and at least 8 great great grandchildren.
ROY J. PETERSON
Holyoke Enterprise, Holyoke, Colorado, July 16, 1953
MILITARY FUNERAL FOR R.J. PETERSON
Military funeral rites for Roy J. Peterson, 50, of Gibbon, Nebraska, a former resident of Holyoke, were conducted at 10:00 o’clock Tuesday morning at the Pleasant Valley Cemetery. Post No. 90, Holyoke American Legion, was in charge. Mr. Peterson died rather unexpectedly Friday at Kearney.
One of eight children of Maude Curtiss Peterson and Archibald Peterson, Roy James Peterson was born on May 29, 1903 at Quincy, Illinois. While he was still a child the family moved to Pineville, Missouri. At the age of 19 Mr. Peterson enlisted in the navy and served aboard the flagship California for four years.
Mr. Peterson came to Holyoke in 1926. He was employed at the Farmers Cooperative flour mill for seven years, until 1933. Since 1946 he had been a field service director associated with Dr. Salsbury’s laboratories of Charles City, Iowa. In 1929, Mr. Peterson was united in marriage with Merle Frances Martin. To this union five children were born: two daughters, Mrs. Maudine Cross, Bayard, Nebraska and Mary, of the home, and three sons, Ronald Peterson, Kearney, Jerry, who is serving in the armed forces, and Martin of the home.
Surviving are Mrs. Peterson; the five children already mentioned; two sisters, Mrs. Ferne Elrad, Sabinal, Texas, and Mrs. Twyla Romine, Amarillo, Texas; one brother, George Peterson, Hayward, California; and three grandchildren, David and Robert Cross and Cynthia Peterson. His parents, two sisters and two brothers preceded Mr. Peterson in death.