John Peterson

John was born in Alexandria on August 21, 1922 and was the son of Hjalmer and Esther Peterson. Hjalmer was a carpenter and farmer who immigrated from Sweden in 1902. His mother was born in Alexandria, the youngest daughter of another Swedish immigrant. John attended the Alexandria school system and has several rounds of Rheumatic Fever so he was never really a healthy child. When he was 20 years old, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy. After a medical release in 1943 because of Rheumatic Fever within six months of being in the service, he came back to develop the family farm in southeast Alexandria. John lived with his parents on the family farm for many years. He drove a milk truck for several years, but when his father turned ill, he decided to take over the family farm that his father was running. Things were going to change pretty quickly for this bachelor farmer. In 1961, his father passed away, and his mother passed the following year in 1962. It was also in January of 1962 that he had a blind date with a young woman who was a teacher in Mound, 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. After a short courtship, in June of 1963, John married DeLilia (Dee) Klinghagen in Lennox, South Dakota (her home town). She quit her teaching job in Mound and moved up to Alexandria to live on the farm. The following year, their first daughter, Judith Ann, was born with an underdeveloped heart, and only lasted 20 days. After this difficult event, they recovered well and had two more children, Lynnea in 1965 and Jay in 1967. While John was working on the farm, Dee became a Title 1 substitute teacher in the elementary school system in Alexandria. Throughout the years, the family was very active in church activities, social activities, and enjoyed travel when they could get away from the farm. 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. (John?s father Hjalmer had been born in Sweden and had a big family still there.) John and Dee sold the family farm in 1995, and moved into Alexandria to be closer to church and other opportunities. In their home, John built a nice workshop so he could do some woodworking, which he really enjoyed. In 2001, John and Dee became grandparents to twins (Luke and Adam) who live in Denver with their mother Lynnea, and step-father, Eric. Their son, Jay, currently lives in Chanhassen with his wife Kathy. Jay would frequently take him fishing in the summers (his favorite lure was always the silver Rattle Trap). In fact, the last fish John ever caught was a muskie last year on Cass Lake. John and Dee recently celebrated their 50th anniversary with family and friends on June 22, and feel very blessed to have such a great network of family and friends. John was a life-long member of Calvary Lutheran Church where he served on the church council several times and on the property committee. He also served on the creamery board and elevator board, and was a member of Golden K for many years. John?s legacy is one of gratitude, peacefulness and service to others. He would want all attendees to use their lives to benefit others in some way, and look upon others with kindness. There will be a visitation on Thursday, September 12th from 4:00pm to 7:00pm at Anderson Funeral Home. The funeral will be at Calvary Lutheran Church on Friday, September 13th at 11:00am, and visitation from 10:00am to 11:00.