Ferdinand Peterson Is Buried On Thursday

Funeral services were held Thursday, April 2, at Bethany Lutheran Church in Elkhorn for Ferdinand John Peterson who collapsed about 6 p.m. Monday, March 30, while working outside and died at the age of 84. A prayer service was Wednesday.

Rev. R.M. Meyer conducted the services. Burial was at Prospect Hill Cemetery near Elkhorn.

Ferdinand J. Peterson was born October 24, 1896, near Bennington to Herman and Bertha Labs Peterson. He was baptized in his parent’s home by the pastor of Zion Lutheran Church on November 14, 1896, and confirmed his faith at St. John Lutheran Church in Florence in 1910.

In 1920, he moved to Elkhorn where he was employed by Joe McClenahan as a cowhand. He joined the Douglas County Highway Department in 1941, and was employed there until his retirement in 1963. He was the last surviving person to work on the Old Lincoln Brick Highway which passed through Elkhorn toward Waterloo, the first hard-surfaced road in the United States from coast to coast.

He was preceded in death by his parents, two sisters and two great-grandchildren.

He was married to Martha Benke on August 15, 1923, at the Immanuel Lutheran Church in Benson by the Rev. F.W. Seesko. His special hobbies were gardening and tending white pigeons.

He is survived by his wife, Martha; two sons, Leonard Peterson of Elkhorn and Harvey Peterson of Granada Hills, California; and two daughters, Mrs. Melvin (Maxine) Lenhart of Elkhorn and Leslie Buss of Elkhorn. Eleven grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren; two brothers, Henry Peterson of Omaha and Irvin Peterson of Elkhorn; and seven sisters, Bertha Wilkenson, Sturgis, South Dakota; Hildegarde Wamsat, Alvina Benke, Clara Labs, all of Elkhorn, Alma Boyles of Uehling, Nebraska; Irma Hacker of Fremont, and Lucille Wesemann of Kennard, also survive him.

Pallbearers were Tyrone Buss, Mark Lenhart, Martin Lenhart, Mitchell Lenhart, Kirk Peterson, Kory Peterson, Michael Peterson and Matthew Schmidt.

Mrs. Duane Nelson was organist.

Swanson Funeral Home of Elkhorn was in charge of arrangements for the services.

~~~ Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Public Library at Blair, Nebraska.~~~