FORT PIERCE FOLKS
Always a crack shot from his days at the Air Force shooting
56
range, Peterson hunted with Adams for years. Both men
made significant contributions to Heathcote Botanical Gardens
in Fort Pierce, where Peterson built the Pioneer House.
Peterson and son, John, took a two-week vacation every
year for 20 years to camp, fish, hunt and canoe. “My father
could do anything in the woods,” says John Peterson. “He
could take some yeast, raisins and cinnamon and, using an
open fire, make the best cinnamon rolls you ever tasted.”
Peterson served on the county’s licensing board for years
and one term on the school board, but he didn’t run again
when he realized he couldn’t bring more vocational education
to county schools. Peterson is the oldest member of the
St. Lucie Historical Society.
Asked how he lived to be 100, Peterson says with a smile,
“Good whiskey and pretty women, although I was never
one to stray on my wife.” A career history teacher in St. Lucie
County, Olive Peterson wrote what is widely considered the
comprehensive biography of her friend, the late artist A. E.
“Bean” Backus. The Petersons were married almost 60 years
before she passed away at age 93.
For a visitor to his room, Peterson pulls from a drawer a
case with all his military ranks, insignias and medals, including
one from the Russian government for his role in ferrying
airplanes to the Army. He also has two sets of ranks – one for
the Army Air Corps and later the U.S. Air Force.
As he puts the case back, he says with a smile, “The next
time this comes out of this drawer, it will be on its way to the
Yates Funeral Home.”
Considering the history of longevity in his family, it may be
a while before that happens.
Former scoutmaster Pete Peterson and Eagle Scout son John are excited about
their trip to Alaska. Over a 20-year period, the two men spent two weeks a
year together camping, hunting, fishing and canoeing.
/www.sunrise-ford.com
/www.stlucieoutboardmarine.com