Lila R. (O’Brien) Peterson, 75

Lila R. (O’Brien) Peterson, 75, of Bennington, died Easter Sunday, April 20, 2003, at Immanuel Hospital in Omaha.

Funeral services were Wednesday, April 23, at St, John’s Lutheran Church in Bennington. Interment was in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Omaha.

Lila Ruth Peterson was born March 9, 1928, in Omaha to Charles and Louise (Bedford) O’Brien. She grew up in Omaha where she attended Belvedere grade school and graduated from North High School in 1945. She attended a teachers’ college in Colorado for one year.

On Aug. 8, 1948, she married Charles Peterson at the Parkside Baptist Church in Omaha. The couple had four children, and raised their family in Tekamah for several years until moving to Omaha in 1956, and to their current home near Bennington in 1975.

Mrs. Peterson was a homemaker and a teacher. She enjoyed the day-to-day activities of home life, including sewing, quilting, gardening, and canning. Each of her grandchildren has received a hand-quilted blanket. She also spent a lifetime teaching in various capacities: grade school, preschool and Sunday school. She was an avid reader, enjoyed fishing and camping with the family.

She was district coordinator for the Methodist Conference of Elementary Education for the State of Nebraska until 1982.

Her family remembers her as an independent, deeply devout woman who loved her family. She thought nothing of getting in the car and driving across country to be with her children when they needed her. She had a tradition of inviting extended family to her home on December 23 to enjoy a holiday gathering of family, and to sing carols.

She is survived by her husband, Charles, of Bennington; sons, Douglas Peterson of Hot Springs, Mo., and Daniel Peterson of Bennington; daughters and son-in-law, Denise Peterson of Lincoln, and Diane and Marty Barron of Omaha; 14 grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and sister, Rose Willis of Johnson City, Tenn.

She was preceded in death by her parents; sisters, Betty Marshall and Annice Hennig, and brother, Bud O’Brien.

Hadan-Golden-Reichmuth Mortuary in Bennington was in charge of arrangements.