Peterson Christmas Letter Excerpts

from Grandma Grace's book
2006
April 29 Shelly married Doug Scotten her at the Whitney Mountain Chapel on Beaver Lake. They honeymooned in Jamaica & now reside near Kaiser, Missouri, where Doug is a state park ranger at Lake of the Ozarks State Park & Shelly is a 3rd grade teacher at School of the Osage.
Ginger was diagnosed with breast cancer & had a mastectomy on Feb. 6th.
Brent, Dawn, Josie, & Blake still reside in Olathe, KS. Josie started Kindergarten this year. Dawn worked really hard to get in top condition & completed a 60 mile 3 day walk for breast cancer research in Sept. Brent still has his manufactured home company & also is doing some work in commercial real estate.
Chris, Marsha, Katie, & Maddie still live in Derry, NH, & Chris commutes to his job in the Boston office of the Homeland Security. Marsha has started doing some medical transcription work from home. Katie goes to preschool 3 days a week, Maddie will have her first birthday Dec. 7.

2004
Mom was quite ill this summer & spent a full month in the hospital in El Dorado. She's much better now & living with Pat & her husband in Rosalia-at least thru the winter. Mom has macular degeneration, so she is unable to see much at all.
Our kids are all doing well. Brent, Dawn, Josie, & Blake are still in Olathe. I babysat with the kids last week while Brent & Dawn were vacationing in Mexico. I had great time with the kids--preschool, ballet class, gymnastics, etc. Josie will be 4 in Feb. & is very verbal. Blake will be 2 in Feb.
Marsha, Chris, & Katie will soon be moving to Boston. His transfer came through, and he'll start there on Jan. 10. Marsha & Katie will remain in Utah until their house sells. Katie had her 2nd birthday in Sept, & looks so much like Marsha at that age that it's almost scary.
Shelly is having a wonderful year with her 3rd graders at one of hte elementary schools in Rogers, just 30 minutes away from us. She's also coaching soccer for a new club which has excellent indoor and outdoor facilities. This club requires its players to participate in several community service projects during the year; in fact, Shelly is helping with one involving needy children this afternoon.
We celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary.
Greg is still enjoying his CPA work, golf, hunting, & fishing, & I enjoy my church library work & my rug hooking. However, I lost a large, nearly-completed rug that I was making for Phyllis about a month ago. I apparently dropped it as I carried it to my car after one of our rug hooking sessions at our community building. Although we went back & looked for it within the hour, it was nowhere to be found.
We'll be with my sisters, Mom, & family at Rosalia on the 24th. We don't exchange gifts(except with our kids and grandkids) anymore. We'll go on up to Olathe that night and spend Christmas day with Brent, Dawn, & their children.
Love, Ginger

undated
Brent & Dawn still live in Olathe with their 2 little ones, Josie will be 3 in Feb & Blake will be 1 in Feb. Brent now has 3 sales centers for his manufactured home business. he broke his wrist in an indoor soccer game in June or July, but the bone didn't heal completely. He will have surgery Jan. 2. He says he doesn't ever want to play soccer again!
Chris & Marsha are still in Salt Lake City, Chris is a special agent with Homedland Security. Katie was 1 in Sept.
Shelly, a 1st year teacher, has 23 students in her 3rd grade class here at Rogers. I volunteer in her room quite a bit. Whenever Shelly has time, she heads to the Rogers Activity Center to play indoor soccer.
Phyllis willbe having surgery to remove a large tumor, one kidney, & her gall bladder Dec. 31. Her four boys all still live in KS: Billy west of Rosalia, Darren about 1/2 mile east of Phyl, Jim in Eudora, Steve in Iola.
I had arthroscopic surgery on my left knee Oct. 31. I think all those years of softball & other sports in high school finally caught up with me. Dr. Mertz found that I had very little cartilage left, I'll most likely need total knee replacement sometime in 2004.
Pete hasn't found much time for hunting, fishing, and golfing as he would like. He went for the 2nd year in a row to South Dakota with Brent & some other friends for a big pheasant hunt. HE's still with the same CPA firm in Rogers.
I'm still volunteer librarian at our church. I've been sewing costumes for our annual drive-thru dramatization of the life of Christ. I still enjoy rug hooking, too-I can hardly drive by a Goodwill Store without wanting to stop and check for good wool skirts to recycle into my rugs.
Ginger

2002
Chris & Marsha welcomed the birth of Katherine Claire (Katie) on Sept. 9 in Utah. Marsha didn't have too many problems with her rheumatoid arthritis during the pregnancy, but now she's had a few flairs.
Brent & Dawn are expecting a baby boy in early Feb. Josie will be getting a baby brother as she celebrates her 2nd birthday. Josie broke her leg this fall (Their golden retriever "Luna" apparently stepped on Josie's foot, causing her to lose her balance & fall-with her foot pinned under Luna's foot.)
Shelly is finishing her finals at Hendrix College this week & is eagerly anticipating moving into her own apt. in Conway in Jan. She will substitute teach there & in neighboring towns this spring while looking for a full time elementary position for the fall. She had an excellent soccer season, being selected 1st Team All-Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference & 3rd Team All-South. She walked at graduation in the spring, receiving honors & distinction in psychology, but she' finishing her course work this semester.
Greg & Ginger
(grandma's note: there is some Higdon family history in these letters. They are my Aunt Emma Ortons grandchildren.)

card from Phyllis & family
Darren & Deanna had a boy Sept 21. I have 4 granddaughters & 4 grandsons.
Pete & Ginger are still in Arkansas. They have 2 granddaughters & expecting a grandson in Jan.
Jan got a divorce in May. She & Whitney (13) still live in the country. Jan teachers govt. classes at Rosalia. I also cook there.
Pat & Harold are retired but drive the school bus.

2001
Brent & Dawn had our first grandchild, Joslyn Paige. Josie is now 10 months old. Brent & Dawn are busy running their company Precision Homes & becoming more involved in church activities.
Marsha & Chris moved to Salt Lake City & bought a new home. He just returned from a 4 month training session in GA & is now classified as a Criminal Investigator with the Immigration & Naturalization Service. Marsha subbing at Provo Canyon School, a boarding HS for troubled teens. She continues to struggle with rheumatoid arthritis.
Shelly is student teaching in Little Rock & Conway. She has a 4.0GPA. Working on psychology degree & elementary education requirements. She dates a nice young man named Chris.
Greg is with the CPA firm in Rogers. I'm still doing lots of work on the Library Ministry Team. Had my gallbladder removed in June.
Pat retired from her secretarial job at the refinery in El Dorado in Jan.. She took a job as a school bus driver. She lives in Rosalia, a block from Mom. Their 5 kids live in Dallas, Tulsa, El Dorado, & Buehler.
Phyllis still lives on her farm near Rosalia, she is the head cook at school there. Her 4 boys live in Eudora, Iola, & 2 near El Dorado.
Jan still lives on a farm near El Doraod, she's still teaching history at the HS in Rosalia. her husband Rod still travels a lot with his work, their daughter Whitney is a 7th grader.
Ginger (Orton) Peterson

2000
Mom broke a vertebra in March. Had a colonoscopy this summer. She is still faithful in her church attendance. SHe & Her sister Dorothy, who lives in Augusta, speak with one another several times daily.
Pat (#1 in birth order) is planning to retire from her job as a secretary at the refinery in El Dorado in Jan. she has 7 grandsons, 1 granddaughter, 1 great-grandon. Harold still drives a school bus. They are quite involved in church functions. Their children are all doing well: Mike & Kathy live in Buehler, KS, Mike is a CPA; Terri lives in El Dorado & is a RN at the hospital; Cindy lives in Dallas & works for state of Tx in some sort of child care position (she completed her Masters this year); Cheryl & Bill moved to Tulsa; Alan & Lori live in El Dorado, he works at the refinery, she does specialized baking in their home.
Phyllis (#2) still lives on the farm where Grandma & Granddad Orton lived, but a different house-works as head school lunch cook at Flinthills in Rosalia. She has 2 grandsons & 4 granddaughters. She is absolutely the best pie baker. Her sons are a big help to her since Bills death 3 years ago. Billy is a teacher at Oil Hill Elementary in El Dorado; his wife Donna works for a local business & as a substitute mail carrier; Jim & his wife Dawn live in Eudora, KS, he works for the water dept. & she works in a business office; Darren & his wife Deanna live in El Dorado, he is a Butaler County Sheriff's PAtrol Officer & she works for a legal firm; Steve & his wife Kim live in Stillwater OK, he is completing his masters at OSU & working as asst. track & cross country coach & Kim works in an office.
Jan (#4) continues to teach history classes at Flinthills High School, her dau. Whitney is a 6th grader there. Jan & Rod live on a farm between Rosalia & El Dorado & have a small herd of cattle.
My husband & I (Ginger #3) live on Beaver Lake near Rogers, Arkansas, although we moved to Austin TX for about 6 months this year while my husband Greg took a job as CFO with a start up health organization which eventually couldn't make it financially. as a result we've sold our house there & moved back here. My husband is again working at a CPA firm in Rogers, I'm back to my old position of volunteer librarian at our church. We have 3 children:
Our son Brent & wife Dawn live in Olathe, KS-they have started their own business, a manufactured homes sales office; our daughter Marsha & husband Chris currently live in Overland Park KS, where she teaches English at Shawnee Mission East HS while Chris awaits final assignment to a position as Criminal Investigator with the Immigration & Naturalization Service in Salt Lake City. Our daughter Shelly is a junior at Hendrix College in Conway, AR, majoring in psychology & elementary education.
Brent & Dawn are expecting their first child MArch 2,
Ginger Orton Peterson
21396 Ridgeview
Garfield AR 72732-9777

Whitney & I have moved to Rosalia-last winter, as I was fighting frozen pipes, a stool that wouldn't quit running, a leak in the roof, etc. in our 100+year farmhouse, I realized I couldn't take care of everything by myself. So we now have a new house just a few feet from Moms. We miss the farm, a former student of mine from Maize bought it.
Whitney is still involved in sports. Her JV volleyball team had a 30-2 season this fall. The BB season has now started, you know where to find us almost every Tues & Fri night thru the end of the season. She plans on playing softball for me this spring. She's in HS choir, she enjoys animals,wanting to be a veterinarian.