Cindy Peterson

Cindy Peterson Journey, 69, passed away on Monday, May 12, 2025, at home following a valiant three-year battle against ALS.

She was born on the southside of Chicago to Carl and LaVonne Peterson, the oldest of three sisters, on Aug. 14, 1955. Wilson Foods transferred her father and the family to Sioux City, and then on to Spencer, where she graduated from Spencer High School, a member of the marching band (played the tuba) and the first women's basketball team in school history. She graduated from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, earning both her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Science. She spent her professional years working with people with intellectual disabilities, becoming an administrator at Hearthside Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center in Brown Deer, Wisconsin. She married James Journey Jr. in 1990. After the untimely death of Jim in 1992, she focused her energy and passion on her two children. Days and nights were filled with hockey, as she drove her kids all over wintery Wisconsin, frequenting the cold stands of local ice rinks supporting her two young hockey stars. She began her second career working for her lifelong friend, Mike LaRosa, at LaRosa Landscape Company.

Cindy was a woman of many talents, from playing duplicate bridge to her accordion. A voracious reader, she was an amateur Civil War historian. Cindy was a college basketball fanatic, especially for her beloved Creighton Bluejays. Despite moving to Milwaukee nearly four decades ago and relentless pressure from her son, she never gave up on her first love … the Chicago Cubs, watching every minute of their 2016 World Series Championship season.

She was preceded in death by her husband, James Journey Jr.; and her parents, Carl and LaVonne Peterson.

Cindy is survived by her children, Patrick (Stephanie) Sullivan and Caitlin Journey (Denzel Pettigrew); grandmother to Finn, Paige, Jack and Kellen Sullivan; and her sisters, Linda Norgaard of Spencer and Carla Feldman.