Anne Wiggins Peterson d.1971

WIGGINS, PETERSON, DORSEY, BURGHDORF, DANNER

Posted By: Melissa Mayhew Grandt (email)
Date: 5/19/2009 at 22:21:12

Iowa City Press-Citizen, Iowa City (Johnson Co.), Iowa, 20 August 1971.

Anne Wiggins Peterson
Anne Wiggins Peterson, wife of longtime dean of education at the University of Iowa Elmer T. Peterson, died at the couple's retirement home at Port Charlotte, Fla. Aug. 1 following an extended illness. The Petersons moved to Port Charlotte from Iowa City eight years ago.

The daughter of Phineas F. and Anne Charlotte Wiggins, she was born in Saginaw, Mich., and married Dean Peterson in 1925. Mrs. Peterson graduated from Ypsilanti College, held an MA from Columbia University and an honorary MA from the University of Michigan. She taught in Michigan for many years and was assistant superintendent of schools in Flint at the time of her marriage.

In Iowa City, the Petersons resided at 130 Grand Avenue Court. She was active in campus and civic affairs. She was a member of the University Club, Shakespeare Club, Craft Guild and during World War II worked as a volunteer in the USO Canteen. Until recently, when the Petersons moved to the nursing home in Port Charlotte, Mrs. Peterson was active in the education and cultural activities of the Port Charlotte Cultural Center where plans are underway to establish a memorial to her memory.

She is survived by her husband, a niece, Helen Dorsey of New York, whom the Petersons raised; three sisters, Flora M. Burghdorf of Houston, Tex., Harriett Danner of Bell, Calif., and Olive Wiggins of Birmingham, Mich.