Leona "Onie" Peterson
Leona “Onie” Peterson, 92, of Glenwood, formerly of Swift Falls, passed away on Sunday, August 20, 2017, at the Glenwood Retirement Village. Visitation will be from 12-2 p.m., followed by the funeral at 2 p.m., Saturday, August 26, 2017, at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church in Swift Falls. Interment will be in the Swift Falls Cemetery. Arrangements are with the Zniewski Funeral Home in Benson.
Leona “Onie” Peterson was born on November 22, 1924, at the family home in Hadley, Minnesota, to Christian “Chris” and Lena (Helmke) Voss. She was baptized and confirmed at St. John’s Lutheran Church at rural Hadley. She graduated from Slayton High School at the young age of 16. She had been able to skip two grades during her school years. After graduating, she went to the Minnesota School of Business in Minneapolis. After completion, she went to work for an insurance company in Rochester for a short time. At this time, her mother had extensive surgery and her dad asked her to come back home for a few months to care for her mother and help with her three younger brothers. A few months later, she went back to Minneapolis and worked at Bell Telephone. At this time she met Bueford, the love of her life. They were married September 15, 1945. This union was blessed with more than 67 years of marriage before Bueford passed away four years ago. They had two children, Doreen and Brent. They were also foster parents to several children over the years. Early in their marriage, they lived at rural Mound, Minnesota, where Bueford worked on his father’s dairy farm, but then decided they would rather be farmers. They then moved to Slayton, Minnesota and then to rural Benson where they farmed. Onie worked for a short time at Kufrin’s Veterinary and then at the Benson High School where she was secretary to the superintendent. In 1975, they sold the farm north of Swift Falls and moved into Swift Falls. Onie had been a resident of the Glenwood Retirement Village since March of 2016. Onie was very active in the Swift Falls Church and circles. Onie’s church and faith were a very important part of her life. They were also active with the church youth. They had the Luther League to their home for several years for a pool party fun Sunday afternoon. They also were the “Best Fans in the Stands” for several years following the church softball teams.
Family and friends were the most important part of Onie’s life. She loved her grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren. She was blessed with the opportunity to meet her new great-great-grandson a couple of months ago and have a five generation picture with him and Noah. This is a wonderful rare occurrence for a family.
Onie is survived by her daughter Doreen Thompson; grandsons: Jeff Urbach (Tana Rae), Greg (Lori) Urbach, and Kris (Jennifer) Urbach; granddaughter, Kelly Peterson (Tom Shorock); great-grandchildren: Shawn Urbach (Jessie Campbell) and Kali (Jaykob) Miller; and great-great-grandsons: Jack and Noah; a sister-in-law, Doris Hanson; and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband, Bueford; son, Brent; and great-grandson, Forrest; her parents; and brothers: Duane, Gerald, and Raymond.
She is going to be missed by so many of us.
Please sign the guest book at www.zniewskifuneralhome.com .
