Willis W. Peterson
Sept. 4, 1945 - Aug. 16, 2006
WILLMAR -- Willis Ward Peterson, 60, of Pelican Rapids, formerly of Willmar, died Aug. 16 at Meritcare Palliative Unit in Fargo, N.D., of esophageal cancer.
Family and friends will gather from 2 to 4 p.m. Sept. 9 at Blue Heron on the Green in Willmar. Memorials are preferred to Doctors Without Borders and the Red River Valley Hospice.
He was born Sept. 4, 1945, in Minneapolis to Willard and Irma (Simmons) Peterson. He graduated from Willmar Senior High School in 1963 and from Hamline University in 1967.
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He taught biology in Mahtomedi, worked for Burlington Northern Sante Fe Railway in Minneapolis and Willmar, and owned and operated the 5th Avenue Gallery in Minneapolis.
He married Barb (Dawson) Davis on Oct. 24, 1994, in Willmar.
He is survived by his wife; daughters: Mimi Peterson (and husband Steven Bistrup) of Foreston, Ali Davis of Brooklyn, N.Y.; one granddaughter; his parents of Willmar; and his siblings: Todd (and Kathy) Peterson of Redwood Falls, Joel (and Patti) Peterson of Duluth, and Marcia (and J.D.) Wine of Onalaska, Wis.
