Kathryn Peterson (nee Heieren) died September 5th 2005 at the White Bear Lake Care Center where she had been a patient since late June. She had been a life long resident of Thief River Falls, MN where she was well known and loved and will be sorely missed by all those who knew her throughout her life.


Kathryn was born July 13th, 1918 to Clara and Edward Heieren, their second child and oldest girl of the four siblings all of whom were included in her many musings of growing up in rural Silverton Township east of Thief River Falls in a predominately Scandinavian family. She had fond memories of her pet chicken, growing up in a two-room farmhouse, and having good times with her brothers and sisters on the farm just being one of the boys .

She attended school in Thief River Falls and graduated from Lincoln Senior High School where she made many friends that she held dear for her entire life. She later had a career at the Minnesota Employment Office and then Land O Lakes where she met her future husband, Harry Peterson on the very first day of work when he offered to give her a ride home. She and Harry married August 19, 1949 in Thief River Falls and made their home at 416 Crocker Ave N where they raised three sons and enjoyed life on the riverfront for many years.

Kathryn was a member of Trinity Lutheran Church where she was active in Circle and then the Abundant Life Church where she had been a member of the board and continued to the time of her death to enjoy the reading printed sermons from the church even though she could not attend.

Kathryn will live on in our memories as she was a devoted mother and the best mother-in-law a girl could hope for. We in the family have our recipe boxes full of her wonderful recipes for lefse, krumkake and Grandma bread which she was pleased to share with anyone who asked. She loved dogs and could remember the dogs in her life from the early farm days when they adopted a former circus dog to her granddog, Zipper, whom she cared for until just shortly before her death. She was a good woman who will be sorely missed by all who knew her.

She is survived by her three sons John (Kristin), Sun Valley, ID, James (Rosanne), Naperville, IL and Joel, White Bear Lake, MN; her four grandchildren Andrea Fila (Jon), Eric, Kurt and Neil. She is also survived by her brother, Emil (Audrey) Heieren and sister, Janet Heieren. She was preceded in death by her husband Harry, her brother Orville and her parents, Clara and Edward.

The family requests that memorials be sent to the radio fund of the Abundant Life Church, Thief River Falls, MN.