Melvin Dean Peterson, 76, of Forest City passed away Sunday, January 26, 2025 at the Westview Care Center in Britt.
A memorial service will be held at 11:00 AM Monday, February 3, 2025 at Immanuel Lutheran Church, 246 S. Clark St, Forest City, IA 50438.
A gathering of friends and family will be held one hour prior to his service at the church.
Burial of cremains will be held at a later date at the Amsterdam Cemetery in Goodell, IA.
Melvin Dean Peterson, the seventh child of Roland and Clara Mae (Peterson) Peterson, was born October 20, 1948 in Belmond, IA. He attended school in the North Iowa area and graduated from Garner-Hayfield High School in 1967. In his younger years, he enjoyed spending time with his eleven siblings and the whole family and loved painting pictures and making model cars in his free time.
Melvin worked for over 40 years at Winnebago Industries in the sawmill. In his free time, he liked fixing and building new things and tinkering around the house, studying genealogy, and had an extensive Eagle collection he was always adding to. His absolute favorite were games! Melvin loved board games and had an entire closet full of them. He also liked video games and designed an “Atari room” for the nieces and nephews which they treasured!
After he retired from Winnebago, he was able to spend even more time with his family and visited a different family member each day of the week – with Fridays being his “stay at home day”. Melvin spent lots of time with his nieces and nephews, teaching some of them how to drive and going to their various sporting events. One of his favorites was watching tv shows with them – especially Disney and Nickelodeon shows! He loved watching tv with and going to the great nieces’ and nephews’ events too!
He was a long-time member of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Forest City.
Family was the most important to Melvin. He loved nothing more than spending time with them. He was always willing to jump in the car and take a road trip with anyone and drive if they were not able to. He enjoyed driving around to all the places he had lived at in the past and telling the younger kids stories about all the places his family had lived.
Melvin is survived by his siblings, Dennis Peterson of Britt, Duane Peterson of Forest City, Laura Peterson of Forest City, and Leon Peterson of Forest City; a sister-in-law, Jill Peterson of Marseille, IL; a brother-in-law, Gene Stenersen of Lake Mills; and many nieces and nephews; great nieces and nephews; and numerous other extended family members and friends.
He was preceded in death by his parents; seven siblings, Sondra Peterson, Shirley Stenersen, Karna Janssen, Roland C. Peterson, Lauren (and his ex-wife, Janice) Peterson, Merlin Peterson and Delwyn Peterson; sister-in-law, Lynn Peterson; nephew, Michael Kane; and nieces, Korby Herzog, Shelley Kane, Heidi Kane, and Heather Davidson.
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