Bonita (Hill) PETERSON OLSEN

HILL, PETERSON, SANDVIG, OLSEN, WESLEY, ROSHEIM, BROTHERS, CARR, YUNGCLAS

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 10/30/2008 at 12:34:50

Brattleboro Reformer, Vermont
January 6, 2006

SLATER, Iowa -- Bonita Peterson-Olsen, 80, of Slater, died Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2005, at the Madrid Nursing Home of advanced Parkinson's disease. She was born in Vincent, Iowa, on June 3, 1925, the first of eight children born to Carolyn (Sandvig) and Otto Hill. She graduated from Duncombe High School in 1943. She received her R.N. degree from Iowa Lutheran Hospital in June of 1946. She worked with polio patients in Sioux City upon graduation. On Nov. 27, 1946, she married Donald Peterson of Slater. For two years, they lived in Minneapolis, where he worked for an insurance company and she worked as a nurse at Lutheran Deaconess Hospital. The couple moved back to Slater in 1950 where both were actively involved in the life of the community for many years. They enjoyed the outdoors, camping, swimming, walking the railroad tracks and bird watching. Mr. Peterson died on Oct. 2, 1975. She married Ralph Olsen of Ellsworth, on July 8, 1978, and spent five years enjoying life on his farm and extensive travel. They had the privilege of joining one of the first Iowa farm delegations allowed into China in the late 1970s. Mr. Olsen died in September 1982. She returned to her home in Slater where she spent many years enjoying her house and yard. She especially enjoyed bird watching, gardening and long walks along the walking trails with her friend, Jackie O'Donnell. She was an active member of Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Slater, served on the board of trustees of Waldorf College, and was among the founders of both Slater Public Library and Slater Historical Society and served on the Patient Care Review Committee at the Madrid Home. Her family and friends remember her love of nature, her generous spirit and the loving warmth she extended to all who visited her home. She made many friends in Vermont on her annual fall foliage visits, and other occasions often involving her grandchildren's special events.

Surviving family members include: her daughter and son-in-law, Julie Peterson and Jack Wesley of Brattleboro, Vt., and her son and daughter-in-law, Kris and Rita Peterson of Huxley; two grandchildren, John and Carolyn Wesley of Brattleboro; four sisters, Mary (Irving) Rosheim and Patricia Hill, both of Ames, Janice (Robert) Brothers of St. Charles, Ill., and Karen (Gary) Carr of Fort Dodge; three brothers, Conly (Donna) Hill of Buffalo, Minn., Jim (Mary Ellen) Hill of Dayton, Ohio, and Douglas (Patty Ann) Hill of Fort Dodge; Mr. Olsen's children, Patricia Yungclas of Webster City and Neil Olsen of Blairsburg; and many beloved nieces and nephews.

Burial in Slater will follow funeral services at Bethlehem Lutheran Church on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. Services have been entrusted to SODERSTRUM-RIIS FUNERAL HOME in Slater.