Madge Thompson Petersen 1909 - 2008

PETERSEN, JONES, THOMPSON

Posted By: Connie Swearingen-Volunteer (email)
Date: 10/23/2014 at 22:40:05

Sioux City Journal
13 March 2008

ANTHON, Iowa -- Madge Thompson Petersen, 98, of Mount Vernon, Iowa, formerly of Anthon, died Sunday, March 9, 2008, at Hallmark Care Center in Mount Vernon.

Services will be 11 a.m. Saturday at Anthon Church of Christ, with the Revs. John Green and Ted Sieck officiating. Burial will be in Oak Hill Cemetery. Visitation with the family will be 9 to 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Armstrong Funeral Home in Anthon.

Madge was born Aug. 14, 1909, on a farm northwest of Anthon, the daughter of Arthur Eugene and Leona Mae (Jones) Thompson. The family moved to Anthon when she was 4 years old. She graduated from Anthon High School in 1926 and attended Morningside College in Sioux City.

She married Martin Petersen on June 1, 1940, at her parents' home. The couple lived for a year in Idlewilde farm in rural Kingsley, Iowa, then moved to a farm east of Cushing, Iowa, where they lived until 1976, retiring to Anthon. In 2001, she moved to Mount Vernon to be near her family.

Next to her family, her greatest passion was teaching and her pupils were very dear to her. She taught for a total of 29 years, first in rural one-room schools in Miller and Summit Townships and in the Bronson Public Schools. After her marriage, she retired for several years to be a farmer's wife and raise a family, but she returned to teaching in 1953 at the Cushing Schools. She retired a second time in 1971, to devote more time to being a grandmother.

She also loved her piano. As a high school girl, she played for the silent movies. Over the years, she played for church, school and community programs, American Legion Auxiliary and for her family. She played for residents of Hallmark Care Center up until a few months before her death.

She was a member of the Anthon Church of Christ, Alpha Delta Kappa, an international teachers sorority, the Valley Rebekah Lodge of Anthon and P.E.O. Chapter DT.

She is survived by a daughter and her husband, Middie Mae and Darrel Morf of Mount Vernon, Iowa; three grandsons and spouses, Paul and Jennifer Morf of Mount Vernon, Andrew and Reagan Morf of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Alex Morf of San Francisco, Calif.; four great-grandchildren, Nellie, Abbie, Betsy and Ingrid Morf; a nephew and his wife, A.M. "Bud" and Alice Thompson of Richland, Wash.; and grandnieces, grandnephews, cousins and many, many students.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband in 1991; a brother, Mayne; a sister, Mildred; and two nieces, Vivian Poulos and Velma Griffith.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to the Anthon Church of Christ or First Baptist Church of the Brethren in Cedar Rapids, Iowa