Marlene Peterson

Marlene M Peterson, 74, beloved wife, mother, and sister passed peacefully at Mountain View Hospital on October 17, 2017. Marlene was born May 8, 1943, in Oregon City, Oregon, the daughter of William H Brown and Marian M Brown. Marlene grew up in the Portland, Oregon area with older brother Herb(deceased), younger sister Sharon Martin, and youngest brother Russell. As both Marlene's parents worked, she assumed the role of chief cook and bottle washer. One day, making oatmeal cookies with Sharon, Sharon held up the rolling pin, asking, "how long... do you roll these oats?" Marlene's dream, as she approached high school graduation, was to teach home economics. However, after graduation, she found employment building circuit boards for Tektronix. Marlene's mother also worked at Tektronix. In the department next to her mother's was a man named Saxhower. Marlene's mother often complained that all her department got was a 10-minute coffee break. It was at this time, in the early sixties that Marlene met and married Terry, her husband of 55 years. They soon had Craig and Natalie, and Marlene took on the role of mother while Terry worked at a grocery store and toward a degree in mathematics at Portland State College. In the late sixties with Terry's degree and a job offer at WSMR(SENSEA) in hand, they headed for Las Cruces, New Mexico. At this time, and to her last, Marlene found that her kids were her life and she unflaggingly shepherded them through elementary school, scouts, summer camp, little league, and all the pitfalls of middle school and high school. During this time, Terry and Marlene managed a small apple orchard of red and yellow delicious at their home on Campbell Road. Terry did the heavy lifting and Marlene did the marketing. She was known as the Apple Lady at the downtown Farmer's Market and sold polished apples, a 3lb bag for a dollar, and loved the back and forth with all the customers. As the kids matured and began to focus beyond the home, Marlene took up her earlier dream and enrolled at NMSU. She graduated with honors in the late eighties and after substitute teaching at Mayfield and Las Cruces, found a permanent position at Gadsden Middle School, teaching home economics. She loved her students as her own but would not brook any nonsense. This could probably not happen today, but when the students were particularly unruly and non-attentive, she would line them up, one after the other. When someone would invariably ask why, she would tell them, "we're practicing for the unemployment line." Marlene retired in the early 2000's. Marlene and Terry really enjoyed long automobile trips to the Northwest to see friends and relatives. In those years, Marlene was an avid reader and crossword doer, but her passion was her kids, grandkids, and later, her great grandkids. Marlene is survived by: husband Terry Peterson, son Craig and wife Colleen Peterson, daughter Natalie and husband John Pappas, grandson Joshua and wife Amanda Apodaca, grandson Phillip and wife Loren, granddaughter Sandra and husband Jonathan Ehman, granddaughter Nancy and husband Patrick Torres, grandson Jason and wife Cake Nufer, grandson Brandon Valdez, grandaughter Cassandra Peterson and Javier Lavato, granddaughter Miranda Peterson, grandaughter Autumn and Ibrahim Asfan, great-grandchildren Ruby, Caleb, and Judah Ehman, great grandchildren Alex and Josephine Apodaca, great-grandchildren Jade and Irish Torres, and great-grandson Gavin Nufer. Friends, colleagues, former students, and staff of Hacienda Senior are invited to funeral service at 2 pm, Tuesday, 24 October 2017 at Getz Funeral Home, 1410 E. Bowman Ave., Las Cruces, New Mexico. Special thanks are given Hacienda Senior for the tender care provided during the last months of Marlene's life. Her spirit endures. Her memory is in our hearts.