DeLilia Faye Peterson

DeLilia was born to Mike and Tillie Klinghagen in Lennox, South Dakota on January 20, 1928. She was the oldest of four girls, and was leaned on pretty heavily to help with all the chores of working on a farm with chickens, pigs and cows. Her parents were always having people come over for tea, and with people buying eggs all the time, DeLilia was groomed to be pretty social. 

Growing up, her family was in a German community and did not speak English, so she only knew German until she went to first grade. She was the first one in the family to learn English and then taught her parents how to speak it. She graduated from Lennox High School in 1945 and went on to get her Teaching Degree from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. She was the first one in the family to get a college degree, and was motivated to get her degree in Minnesota, because “the pay was better than in South Dakota.” She relocated to Mound, Minnesota with a piano on the roof of her car and began teaching First Grade. She bought a home in Mound with her friend Clara and lived there while teaching.

One day, she made a declaration: “God, if you want me to be married, you’re going to have to find me a husband, because I’m not going to look.” Shortly thereafter, it was in January of 1962 that she had a blind date with a young man who was a farmer in Alexandria, Minnesota. The date was arranged by Paul and Dorothy Magaard. Paul knew John from visiting John’s farm frequently, and Dorothy was a cousin of DeLilia. On their date, John and DeLilia went to see the Elvis movie, “Blue Hawaii”. Things went well and they kept in touch by writing. Later, John was spurred into action by his three female cousins who wanted “Johnny” to pursue this nice woman who had sent a sympathy card when his father died. 

In June of 1963, she married John Peterson and moved to Alexandria, MN to start their life together on the farm. It was there she really blossomed, but not without adversity. Their first child, Judith, had an underdeveloped heart and after 3 weeks she passed away in September of 1964. It was heart breaking for DeLilia and John. Despite that loss, and the fear of it happening again, she and John had a healthy little girl (Lynnea) in 1965 and son (Jay) in 1967. Between raising a family and working on the farm, she also started substitute teaching in Alexandria, making wedding cakes as a side hustle, volunteering at Calvary Lutheran and 4-H, and having large gardens on the farm. She was not one to sit still! In 1979, the family took a very memorable tour of Scandinavia and was able to meet the King of Sweden with their tour group, in addition to spending time with a few of John’s cousins. 

After the kids graduated college, John said he “did not want to leave the farm in a box.” So they sold the farm in 1995 and moved into a duplex in Alexandria. She and John stayed there for almost 20 years and loved their neighborhood. They celebrated their 50th anniversary in 2013, shortly before John passed. She was adopted by the Franciscan nuns across the street – they called her “Sister Dee” with all of their activities they were involved in. Even in her later years she was a member of the “Happy Hookers” club, Red Hat Ladies, quilting groups, and kept baking and creating artistic projects. She moved to Grand Arbor in 2019, and enjoyed the fellowship there until 2024, moving into Nelson Gables where she passed away peacefully. She had congestive heart failure that eventually wore down her body, but was present and aware in her final days.

Her main love in life was teaching which still flowed through even on her last day. When she heard a bell ring, she wanted to get her class together and start teaching, making sure the kids were taken care of. J

She is survived by two children, daughter Lynnea Rockwell (husband Eric) of Victoria, MN and son Jay (partner Krista) of River Falls Wisconsin; and two grandchildren Luke and Hailey Garrett. Preceding her in death was her infant daughter Judith Ann and husband John.

DeLilia’s legacy is one of gratitude, creativity, hard work, continuous learning, and service to others. She would want all attendees to use their lives to keep creating, and benefit others in some way. 

There will be a funeral on Friday, February 14th at Calvary Lutheran Church at 11:00am, and visitation prior to the service from 10:00am to 11:00am. In lieu of flowers, the family asks to send donations to support the Alexandria Education Foundation: www.alexeducationfoundation.org.

Anderson Funeral Home in Alexandria is in charge of arrangements for DeLilia.