Charles A. Peterson

SIOUX CITY | Charles Andrew "Chuck", "Rug" Peterson of Sioux City peacefully surrendered to his maker on Sunday, March 24, 2013. He considered himself fortunate to have been on lifelong good terms with his leader, Jesus Christ. Memorial services will be 11 a.m. Saturday, April 6, at First Presbyterian Church, 608 Nebraska St., 712-255-8919, with lunch to follow. Visitation with family will be 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, April 5, at Meyer Brothers Colonial Chapel, 3220 Stone Park Road, 712-255-0131. Chuck was born in Omaha, on Feb. 8, 1927. Chuck went to school at Dundee Elementary and attended high school at Omaha Central, before attending the University of Nebraska. He played football as a freshman, was sports editor of the Daily Nebraskan, and was a member of the Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity. Chuck served in World Wwar II in the U.S. Army Air Corps, beginning with basic training at Kessler Field (Miss.). He received additional training at Scott Field (Ill.), arriving in Japan with the first wave of Air Corps replacements. He served in Japan with the 5th USAAF. He returned to the states with an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. With the military's typical efficiency, he arrived too late to be enrolled in the class of 1950. He finished his indenture at Westover Field (Mass.), where he served as captain of the Westover Flyers ATC football team. The day after returning from duty in Japan, he met Marti at a Mother's Day church service. He married the love of his life, Martha Ann Rumel, on Sept. 2, 1947. They have two children, Dr. Charles A. Jr. and Christine Martha. Chuck and Marti established their family, first in Omaha, then Cedar Falls, Iowa, and finally in Sioux City. He worked as a salesman for the family's business, Peterson Lithographing and Printing, then United States Checkbook Company. He subsequently founded Chuck Peterson Photography, working with wife, Marti and daughter, Chris. Chuck was awarded his master of photography degree by the Professional Photographer's of America. Chuck was named four times to the Top 10 Photographers in Iowa. He was also awarded a life membership by the Sioux City Camera Club. He was president of the North Central Camera Club Council. Chuck worked as a sideline photographer for 25 years during the most exciting years of football (1970 to 1995) at the University of Nebraska, furnishing photographs for Husker Illustrated, Sports Illustrated and Playboy (it was a football picture!). Chuck was as an avid upland game hunter, filling out with both pheasants and quail. He was the founding member of three German Short-Haired Pointer clubs. He was also named to the board of directors when the National German Short-Haired Pointer Club was reformed. He was a nationally recognized field trial judge and field trial gunner. Chuck retired from hunting at age 50, when he happily realized, "No one shot me and I had not shot anyone." Chuck was the first president of the Sioux City Ski Club, and president of the Northwest Iowa Nebraska Alumni Club. The bus trip to Iowa City or Lincoln, Neb. for the big match-up was an annual pilgrimage. At a 50th high school reunion, a childhood chum told him, "Chuck, you are one of the luckiest people I have ever known." Agreeing, Chuck re-called what he had said when he was a child, "My name is Chuck Peterson, Boy Scout, cowboy and tackle at the University of Nebraska." The cowboy wish came true after finding his horse Buster and working winters, into his seventies, as a cowboy at a dude ranch in Arizona. Chuck and Marti, often shouting, "finder's high", were passionate collectors of antique Tealeaf ironstone. Chuck and Marti were blessed with 66 years together. He is survived by his son, Dr. Charles A. Peterson Jr.; his daughter, Christine and husband, Richard Heydon; his granddaughter, Dr. Amanda and husband, Dr. Tyler Wycoff; his granddaughter, Laura Peterson and husband, Hollis Roads; his great-grandsons, Elliott and Brady Wycoff; his sister, Nancy and husband, H. David Neely; his sister-in-law, Joanne and husband, Robert Rumel; his sister-in-law, Margaret and husband, Charlie Ottenheimer; nieces, and nephews; and countless friends. He was preceded in death by his father, Homer H. Peterson; his mother, Elizabeth "Buss" Weir Peterson; his mother-in-law and favorite card player, MaeBelle and husband, Wesley Rumel; his beloved granddaughter, Stacy Peterson; and her mother, Mary Ditmanson Peterson. Memorial gifts may be sent to First Presbyterian Church, where Chuck served as a deacon and elder, or to the Siouxland Historical Railroad Association, where the "Old Trainman" and his wife, Marti, served as volunteers.