Cindy Louise Peterson

Cindy Louise (Altenhofen) Peterson passed away suddenly on October 13th, 2026 at her home in Las Cruces, NM.

Cindy was the fourth of seven children of Keith and Anna Ruth Altenhofen, born in March of 1957. She grew up in and around the town of Newton, Iowa, where she loved to draw and work backstage with her high school drama club. She wanted to become an artist, but her father said “No, you are going to college and learn a skill to get a paying job”. Fortunately, her high school math teacher introduced her to the new field of computers, and she started her career using punch cards to learn how to program.

She graduated from Newton High School in 1975, and attended Iowa State University, earning a degree in Computer Science. She was one of a very small group of women in the CS department at the time. While at college, she met her future husband Joel, and they were married in 1979 in Newton.

She landed that paying job at Caterpillar Tractor Co, now Caterpillar, Inc., Peoria, IL in the information technology (IT) group. There she worked on inventory and accounting systems for the company and for several Caterpillar dealers. She traveled all around the world to install and support those dealers in the US, Europe, Japan and Australia, finally retiring in 2013.

Meanwhile, her mother-in-law and a sister got her hooked on quilting. She made dozens of quilts for friends and family, and accumulated a substantial cache of fabric to work with from her trips around the US and the world. She was an artist with fabric.

Cindy was preceded in death by her parents Keith and Anna Ruth Altenhofen and her brother Mike. She is survived by her husband Joel Peterson of Las Cruces, NM., two sisters: Sharon Stadsvold of Las Cruces and Twyla Rush of Edina, MN., and three brothers: Tom Altenhofen of Ankeny, IA., Tim Altenhofen of Madison, WI., and Gary Altenhofen of Spencer, IA. Cindy also had thirteen nieces and nephews, and many cousins.