LOWELL - Mary J. Peterson, age 83, of Lowell, MA passed away on January 23rd, after a fall in her home on New Year’s Day.
Mary was born in Lowell to Piotr and Antonina (Michalik) Pater on December 4, 1925. She had five brothers, Adam, John, Walter, Joseph and Stanley and a sister Ann all of Lowell and all of whom had predeceased her.
Mary graduated from Lowell High School, class of ‘44, and Lowell State College in 1948. She taught in the Nashua, NH, Dracut and Lowell, MA school systems until her retirement in 1988.
In 1949 she married Richard K Peterson who survives her. After her retirement she traveled extensively visiting all 50 states, Bermuda, parts of Europe and the Caribbean. She was a member of REAM (Teachers‘ Retirement Organization), the Auxiliary of the VFW Post 662, and the Dracut Seniors. She was also PTA President of St Stanislaus School, Lowell and Publicity Chair for several of her Lowell High School Class Reunions.
In addition to her husband, Mrs. Peterson is survived by four children, Susan Durkee and her husband Raymond of Castine, Maine, Barbara Vitale and her husband, Michael of Lowell, Richard K. Peterson, Jr. and his wife Donna of Lowell, and Stephen Peterson and his wife Danielle of Chelmsford. She is also survived by four grandchildren and one great grandchild.
Friends may call the DRACUT FUNERAL HOME, 2159 Lakeview Avenue, DRACUT, on Tuesday from 4 until 8 PM. Her Funeral will be held from the funeral home on Wednesday at 7:45 AM, followed by her Funeral Mass to be celebrated at 9 AM at St. Francis Church in Dracut. Interment in St. Mary Church in Tewksbury. In lieu of flowers, Mary Peterson's family has requested that friends honor her dedication to elementary education by making a gift to the Mary Curtin Alden Fund at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Memorial donations may be made to the Graduate School of Education, University of Massachusetts Lowell, c/o Danielle Covert, Office of University Advancement, Southwick Hall 250, Lowell, MA 01854. The family is grateful for your remembrance. For online condolences please use the icon below.