Wednesday, October 28, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
100 YEARS: Ruth
Peterson <expected
to live to be 100=
Continued from page 1
you can9t anymore.=
Following graduation
Peterson made a surprising
move to Florida with a friend
and classmate and stayed
for about a year before she
returned to Milwaukee where
her mother had arranged for
her to work at the Army Air
base.
<I think my mother was
worried I wouldn9t find a
man and believed that work-
ing at the air base would
increase my chances,= she
said. <As it turned out, that is
how I met my husband who
was doing officer9s training
there. We got married within
about three months, which
happened a lot during the war
time because people were
unsure about the future.=
Eventually the couple was
transferred to Palm Springs,
California, which was a big
change for Peterson.
<I had never seen a moun-
tain and wasn9t accustomed
to living around Hollywood
stars,= she said.
After a short stint in the
west her husband was trans-
ferred back to Minneapolis,
Minnesota, a much more
familiar surrounding for a
Midwest girl. Her daughter
Karen, who lives in Ecuador,
was born in 1945.
She recalls that when
her second child, Tom, of
Eugene, was born in 1947,
her insurance covered 10 full
days in the small hospital in
Grantsburg, Minnesota.
<That9s hard to imagine
now,= she said.
A stay-at-home mother,
Peterson ventured into the
work world at about age 50
when she took courses to
learn about taxes and other
bookkeeping and worked
part-time in that field for a
number of years.
It was Tom who enticed
his parents to visit Oregon
in 1990 and by 1991 they
had purchased their home in
Black Butte Ranch.
<It was in dire need of a
remodel and we hired con-
tractor Lynn Johnston, who
did a tremendous job of mak-
ing it what we wanted,= said
Ruth.
Peterson, who claims
she was very shy as a child,
decided that the only way
to get to know people in her
new community was to get
involved. She played ten-
nis, got involved in book
and bridge clubs, and even
learned to play golf.
<I never really liked golf
so I would play with a group
we called 8The Funny Girls,9
and we were committed to
TIME TO PUT ON
I never really liked
golf so I would play with
a group we called ‘The
Funny Girls,’ and we were
committed to not keeping
score and just having fun.
— Ruth Peterson
not keeping score and just
having fun,= she said.
Peterson quit playing ten-
nis 4 in which she was quite
skilled 4 at age 89 out of
fear of falling and breaking
a bone.
<I have osteoporosis
and didn9t want to take any
chances.=
Pete embraced the Black
Butte Ranch lifestyle imme-
diately and enjoyed it for the
six years he lived in Oregon.
He died of colon cancer in
1997.
In addition to her activi-
ties at the ranch, Peterson
became involved in the
Sisters Library and also
served on the board for
Habitat for Humanity, for
which she remains a staunch
supporter.
<I got a lot more out of the
work for Habitat than I put
into it,= she said.
As a Wisconsin native,
she remains a tremendous
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Green Bay Packers football
fan. <They really blew it last
week,= she said, referring to
a 28-point blowout loss to the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
She attended the <Ice
Bowl= in 1967, in which the
Packers edged the Dallas
Cowboys for the NFL cham-
pionship 4 but she didn9t
see the miraculous finish.
Due to the brutal subfreezing
temperatures, she headed to
her car with minutes to play
and the Cowboys ahead by
three points, only to hear on
her car radio that the Packers
had scored the winning
touchdown in the game9s
final 11 seconds. Many con-
sider it the most exciting pro-
fessional football game ever
played.
<That9s life,= she said.
She still takes in a lot of
sports on television.
Peterson feels unsure
about whether technology,
including the smartphone, is
a good thing or not, but says
<It9s fascinating what these
phones and computers can
do. They can do everything.=
She does embrace some
technology. As a member
of St. Edward the Martyr
Catholic Church, she uses
her iPad for, among other
things, taking part in Mass
on Sundays.
When asked to share any
advice about living a long
life, she said, <Keep busy!=
She says that staying
physically active is essential
and making friends is vital.
She walks around her cul
de sac twice a day and does
some other indoor exercises.
Her social life is a bit dimin-
ished during the pandemic,
but she has had some friends
over while also practicing
safety protocols.
In addition she says she
keeps her mind sharp by
keeping up with the current
news of the day and doing
crossword puzzles.
Despite some health
issues, including an emer-
gency room visit two years
ago, and anemia, she remains
upbeat.
<Jim and I take care of
each other,= she said.
Summing up her thoughts
on living a long life, she said,
<I am Catholic and I love
God. I think that it makes a
difference to have faith to
keep you going when things
aren9t going so well and you
have someone to turn to.=
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