Peterson, Alice Jean 1913-2004

PETERSON, BARKLEY, BROWN

Posted By: Linda Ziemann, volunteer (email)
Date: 4/22/2009 at 11:30:12

ALTA, Iowa -- Alice Jean Peterson, 91, of Alta died Friday, Nov. 19, 2004, at Methodist Manor in Storm Lake, Iowa.

Services will be 1 p.m. Wednesday at Trinity Lutheran Church in Alta. Burial will be in Scandinavian Cemetery in Alta. Visitation will be 2 to 7 p.m. today, with the family present 5 to 7 p.m., at Barker Funeral Home in Alta.

Alice Jean Barkley was born April 20, 1913, in Merrill, Iowa, the daughter of the Rev. A.J. and Frances (Brown) Barkley. She attended school in several communities in Northwest Iowa. She graduated from Farnhamville (Iowa) High School in 1931. She attended Buena Vista College in Storm Lake and Iowa State Teachers College (UNI) in Cedar Falls, Iowa, earning degrees in music and elementary education.

She began teaching at Highview Consolidated School in 1935. She also taught in the Iowa communities of Mechanicsville, Estherville and Cedar Rapids.

She married Melvin Peterson on Aug. 26, 1945, in Smithland, Iowa. They settled on the family farm north of Alta. This union was blessed with one daughter, Miriam.

Jean was active in the community, both in the country and when they retired to Alta in 1976. She taught piano lessons to many children, directed choirs and accompanied vocalists. She was an active member of several groups, including the Nokomis Study Club and Trinity Lutheran Church. In the 1970s, she taught English to recently immigrated Laotians. She collected seashells and presented programs about them.

Survivors include her husband, Melvin of Alta; a daughter and her husband, Miriam and Don Baker of Cedar Falls; two grandsons, Lee Baker and his wife, Amy of Eugene, Ore., and Brandon Baker of Denver, Colo.; a sister, Ada Martin of Spirit Lake, Iowa; a brother-in-law and his wife, Pastor Ordell and Dorothy Peterson of Rock Island, Ill.; seven nieces and nephews; and numerous friends.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her twin brother, John Barkley and his wife, Edna; a sister, Evelyn Barkley; and two brothers-in-law, Bob Martin and Vincent Peterson and his wife, Dorothy.

~Source: The Sioux City Journal, part of the Darrell E. Obituary Collection