Mary Ann Peterson

Mary Ann was born to Francis Harrison Hammett and Lucy Mary Honeywell Hammett on December 19, 1937 in Marysville Kansas. Mary Ann was the third in a family of eight children including four brothers and three sisters. At the age of three the family moved to Montana for a period of two or three years and then during World War two her father took a strategic defense job working for Boeing Aircraft in Seattle Washington. In 1953 the family moved to Cedaredge Colorado. With little money and a disabling illness of her father, Mary Ann and her older siblings had to work through the summer and the fruit harvest to pay for their school supplies and clothes, so she learned early in life what it meant to be thrifty and work hard.
Mary Ann met the love of her life when She began her junior year in high school at Cedaredge. When Buckley Peterson presumed he had a date with her older sister, Bonnie a senior at Cedaredge High. He called at the Hammett house in the evening and found that Bonnie had gone on a date with someone else. Mary Ann's Mom quickly saved the day by suggesting that Mary Ann should go with Buckley. Thus began a two-year courtship that was culminated on June 5, 1956 in 66 years of marriage. To this marriage four children were added; Kelly (Nora) Peterson, Bret (Donna) Peterson, Shawna (John) Gore, Rita (Kirt) Lanzi, ten grand children and fourteen great grand children. Mary Ann passed away on September sixth 2022.
Mary Ann and Buckley Peterson owned and operated Peterson Plumbing for 40+ years. Mary Ann answered phones, waited on customers, performed a variety of customer service and record keeping jobs but her most important job was always caring for her family and anyone else she could take care of. She did child care for many ladies who worked in the fruit harvest and other jobs. She loved camping with family and her many friends. She canned or froze an abundance of fruit and vegetables and loved to teach anyone who was interested to do the same.
In late 1960's Mary Ann accepted Jesus Christ as the Lord of her life and patiently waited for her husband to follow her in that commitment ten years later. The most important thing in her life was serving others never drawing attention to herself.
Mary Ann is survived by her husband and children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, brothers-Forest Hammett and Joseph Hammett and sister - Sue Hainer.
In lieu of flowers the family is suggesting a gift to a fund to provide scholarships for children in need of help to attend summer Bible camp. Donations can be sent to First Baptist Church of Cedaredge, Bible Camp Scholarship Fund, PO Box 400, Cedaredge Colorado 81413


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Sweet Mary Ann?

Sweet Mary Ann, how I love you sweetheart. When I first met you, I was making a play for sister Bonnie, but she was looking for someone else. Your Mama said Mary Ann will fit you better and she was right. I soon found out that I didn't use the word "Dare" because if you were "Dared" to do anything you took that literally and you would not give up until the "Dare" was fulfilled. You were bold and daring but you couldn't stand up in front of the class to give a book report, you would simply pass out and end up on the floor in a heap. I graduated in 1955 and in August of that year I bought you an engagement ring and headed off to college. I was a fast learner, and I was in love, so four months later I came home. You had made a commitment to graduate from high school before getting married, but we were together. On June 5, 1956, one week after your graduation, we were married. You had so much trouble getting up in front of a crowd that I left work early that day, drove to Cedaredge to pick you up, without our parents knowledge, and with, Yes! sister Bonnie and her husband Bob Reed as our best man and maid of honor, we went to Mr. Hunsicker's house and were married. Your mother was a long time forgiving you for not having a formal wedding in the church but as was your pattern all through life, you never liked to draw attention to yourself.
Then came the kids. Kelly was born in 1958. Then in 1959 we moved from Montrose back to Cedaredge and Bret was born in 1960, then in came Shawna and last but not least in Rita was born. The kids all loved their Mama very much, but well they all recall the whipper stick. This was a wooden clothes hanger without the hanger hook, and they were frequently required to go get the whipper stick so discipline could be applied. Mary Ann loved teaching and mentoring the kids and I'm sure that many in this audience today were tutored while she was baby sitting them, working with them in 4H, teaching them in Sunday school or AWANA, teaching cooking skills in her kitchen, etc.
One incident that both I and the three older kids remember happened when I decided to go fishing in
the Granby's one night. I had told Mary Ann that we might not get back until middle of the night. I rode up with Melvin and Carol and their kids. Carol and kids were dropped off at the cabin with Melvin's parents. Melvin said he would like to fish all night and Carol and the kids would bed down and spend the night with his parents. I asked Carol if she would call Mary Ann and let her know. Well you can see where this is going. Carol wasn't too happy to begin with at having to do my dirty work with Mary Ann and to top it off she was unable to get Mary Ann to answer the call. Melvin and I came in from fishing just before dawn bedded down in a bunk house behind the cabin and went to sleep. About an hour later, Carol came out to tell us that breakfast was ready and I rolled over and said "Did you get Mary
Ann?" The answer was "no" and things are getting worse by the minute. Now I'm in panic mode. Carol is mad, Sweet Mary Ann is mad and I want to get home as soon as possible. Breakfast was consumed and we are making a run for the valley. As we drove into town our black Plymouth with Sweet Mary Ann and kids inside is leaving town, going I don't know where or when if ever she is coming back. About midnight that night Sweet Mary Ann returned home. Words were not spoken for some considerable time, but eventually I found out that Sweet Mary Ann had driven to Gunnison via the Black Canyon road with the brakes on the car failing. When she arrived in Gunnison, in order to stop the car she drove into the curb in front of a stop sign, knocking the stop sign over before coming to a stop. After receiving a ticket for careless driving and damaging public property, she had to have a brake line repaired and then drove

home. Kelly said when she drove into the stop sign, he stood up in the back seat and said "What did you do that for?" He received a slap across the face and was told to sit down and shut up.
Another Sweet Mary Ann story is the time I and an employee named Walt were in the shop one morning when Sweet Mary Ann came in and we had a discussion. It was a discussion that suddenly went south.
Various objects laying around the shop began to ffy in threatening directions. Walt went out the front door and I went out the back door. When the air cleared Sweet Mary Ann was triumphantly by herself and Walt and I left the scene.
Sweet Mary Ann truly deserved that name. Mary Ann never wanted attention. She was embarrassed even to her last days here with us to haft to have help. She was difficult to buy a gift for because she would rather give than receive. When we would go shopping I would be looking for some new fishing item, she would be looking for gifts for her AWANA kids or a granddaughter or who knows who, maybe just a friend. I would try to encourage her to buy a clothing item or a new pair of shoes, something special. She wanted to go off to Goodwill or a thrift store she had heard of, and then more often than not she would see something that was just right for someone else and if I pushed a little bit she just might get something for herself, but usually it was "I don't need that". When we would go to a pot luck dinner I would be looking for dishes that was something really appealing to my appetite, Mary Ann was looking for someone's dish that was being passed over so that they wouldn't feel hurt or unappreciated. When we moved in with my Mom we had furnishings for two households and no use for lots of things. I could not get her to agree to a yard sale to dispose of the excess, but if she could find someone that needed it she would give it away in a heartbeat. She would always seek out anyone she could spot that was being neglected no matter what their appearance.
Mary Ann loved her Lord Jesus Christ. Mary Ann was an avid reader and besides the many, many books she read out of the church library she read completely through her Bible, both Old and New Testament, once a year. She had huge burden to bring others to a relationship with her savior. In her Bible I found numerous scriptures written down to refer to when she was sharing her salvation message with others. The last entry on her notes was a hymn titled "Because He Lives".