LaVonne Peterson

LaVonne Peterson, 92, of Spencer, passed away on Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024, at the St. Luke Lutheran Home in Spencer.

A prayer service will be held on Friday, Aug. 30, 2024, at 4 p.m. at the St. Luke Lutheran Home Chapel in Spencer. A visitation will follow at the chapel till 7 p.m. A private family burial will be held in the Riverside Cemetery in Spencer. Arrangements are under the direction of the Robinson Funeral Home in Spirit Lake. Online condolences may be left at www.spiritlakefuneralhome.com

An old proverb states that when an elder dies, a library is burned: vast sums of wisdom and knowledge are lost. We believe that to be true with the death of LaVonne.

She was born during the depression, daughter of parents who lived through the Spanish flu epidemic and great-granddaughter of an Illinois Calvary soldier who fought for the Union during the Civil War. She sat with her parents, glued to the radio, listening to President Roosevelt give his Day of Infamy Speech in 1941. She helped maintain a victory garden, while her parents went to work at the Pullman Railroad to help build airplanes for the war effort. Her summers were spent in Michigan in a cabin on a small lake where she and her mom stayed during the week and her dad came up on the weekends. In 1947 she and her father watched Jackie Robinson play ball in Wrigley Field, and of course celebrated her beloved Cubs winning the World Series in 2016. She married in 1950 and discovered her mother-in-law attended school with the famed FBI agent Elliot Ness. Dad was soon drafted by the Marine’s and was shipped off to Korea and life together was put on hold. She went to work at Wilson Foods for Thomas E Wilson, while dad was overseas. When dad returned home, she became a stay-at-home mom for her three daughters, Cindy, Linda and Carla.

Mom loved to travel and had visited all 50 states and several foreign countries including Russia. She was an avid duplicate bridge player and had earned her life master award. She played tournaments all over the United States against the likes of Aaron Spelling, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. She loved to play golf and was on the board for the Spencer Municipal Golf Course for almost 30 years. She was an active member of the First Congregational Church in Spencer. She and dad were youth leaders for several years and organized a youth trip to the east coast. She was also on many boards and committees. She lived vicariously through her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. She never missed an opportunity to attend or support an activity they were involved with. She was proud of having two grandsons serving in the military, both domestically and abroad.

She was an abstractor by trade and worked well into her 90s doing work she loved. She loved history and took New Age College Courses in her 90s. Sometimes her “quit talking” filter didn’t work very well, but never met a stranger and made lifelong friends wherever she went.

LaVonne Irene was born in Chicago, Jan. 7, 1932, the only child of Clifton and Irene (King) Roberts. She graduated from Morgan Park High School in Chicago at the age of 16. She married Carl G Peterson on Sept. 9, 1950. They lived in Blue Island, Illinois, Sioux City and eventually Wilson Foods transferred dad to Spencer where she has lived for over 60 years. Mom and Dad were both only children but had six lifelong high school friends from Chicago, (Bev and Don, Frank and Delores, Scotty and MaryEllen), with whom they traveled with, visited often and whom we treated like family. Mom was the last of the group.

She is survived by her three daughters, Cindy Journey, of Brown Deer, Wisconsin; Carla (Joel) of Milwaukee and Linda Norgaard (friend Ed Hansen) of Spencer. She has five grandchildren, Matt (Liz) Norgaard of Hartley, Master Sgt. Adam Norgaard (friend Julie Gehling) of Spencer, Eric (Holly) Norgaard of Spirit Lake, Caitlin Journey (friend Denzel Pettigrew) of Brown Deer, Wisconsin, and Commander Patrick (Stephanie) Sullivan of Annapolis, Maryland. She also had seven great-grandchildren, Xainder, Jersey, Gavin, Finn, Paige, Kellen and Jack.

She is preceded in death by her parents, husband Carl in 2004, and son-in-law James Journey in 1992.

It was LaVonne’s wish that any memorial tributes be made in the form of charitable donations to the First Congregational Church, People for Pets of Spencer or the ALS Association@ ALS.org.