Perry A. Peterson of Rapid River died on Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 at Lakeview Assisted Living in Gladstone where he was currently residing. He was born in Rapid River on March 17, 1916. His parents were P. Albert Peterson and Ellen (Bergman) Peterson. In the simpler days of his youth, he remembered the old type logging camps which he visited and of the fun of running on the logs being driven down the Whitefish River when such logging drives occurred yearly and the logs lay in the lower river until well into June being sorted out to the mills still operating at Rapid River and Masonville. He likewise remembered the pleasure in taking a gentle horse and dray to cut and haul in firewood to his grandfather’s farmhouse. It was a pleasure to help plant potatoes at kindergarten age and to help haul in the hay in haying season and then have a swim at the end of the day in the river when it was still deep all summer long.
When he was 12 years of age, the Delta County Sheriff issued a special permit allowing him to drive his father’s delivery truck to deliver groceries in the area. He continued to do that until he had graduated from college and graduate school during the summer months.
He graduated from Rapid River High School in 1934. His class gave up the traditional “Skip Day” to use the funds instead to construct the first tennis court the town ever had. This was to be that class’ memorial to the community. Unfortunately a few years later, the existing gymnasium burned down and the new gymnasium was built right over the tennis court. Today the same location is occupied by the Omni Center. The concrete in the old tennis court was one of the most difficult structures to remove when the old gymnasium was converted into the Omni Center because it had been doubly reinforced with steel.
He attended St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota for one year and then transferred o Lawrence College—now Lawrence University—in Appleton, Wisconsin in 1938. He was elected to Phi/Beta Kappa as president of the Student Body.
At Lawrence he started a quarterly publication for outstanding student short stories, poetry and art. That publication is still published in the present day. He attended Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration from 1938 to June 1940 and received an MBA on graduation.
He then was hired by Allied Oil Company in Cleveland, Ohio and began a period of training. In the fall of 1941 he was loaned to the government in Washington, D.C. as a Business Specialist in the Office of Price Administration. He remained there until after Pearl Harbor and then joined the U.S. Navy. His training was in Fort Schuyler and the Navy Gun Factory and upon completion of that he served in several positions in the Ordnance Department of the Navy in Washington. In the longest assignment lasting several years, he reorganized the contracting and manufacturing of 20 mm and 40 mm Anti-Aircraft guns. His proudest achievement was getting the volume of production of these essential defensive weapons for our naval and commercial ships rolling out in large volumes.
He returned to Allied Oil moving up their organization to Sales Manager before being asked to go back into the government in Washington again during the Korean War as a Business Specialist as Assistant Director of Petroleum for the Defense Agency.
Subsequently he served in various management positions in two major oil companies and as head of marketing in a specialty food company.
For nine and a half years, 1977-1987, he worked without pay nearly full time in securing funding, developing architectural plans, to rebuild four former school buildings in Rapid River for non-profit public use. From that effort, the buildings now known as Riverview Manor Apartments, the Omni Center and buildings for the Pre School and Senior family gatherings were completed. The volunteer effort of residents of the involved four townships during those years was extraordinary. National officials gave it that credit. Peterson loved tennis, skiing downhill and cross country and enjoyed giving Rapid River youths training in tennis for several years. He enjoyed studying languages and gained a modest knowledge of several. He loved reading and to encourage others in that enjoyment gave books to a local church library for many decades and to the local public libraries and to the Rapid River kindergarten for some years.
In late years, much was added to his enjoyment of life in his physical and psychological benefit from his training and association with members and staff at the Y and with the valuable help he received from Y trainers in exercise activities.
His parents and his brother, Malcolm and a sister, Linnea Swigart preceded him in death. He leaves to survive four nieces and many cousins in the U.S. and three Scandinavian countries.
Graveside services for Perry will be held on Friday, July 23 at 2:00 PM at the Rapid River Cemetery.
