Virgil Vance Peterson, age 95, passed away June 29, 2001, of causes incident to age.
Born July 24, 1905, Pleasant Grove, Utah, a son of Louis N. and Ida Swenson Peterson. Married Audrey B. Harris of Richmond, Utah, 27 May 1936 in the Salt Lake Temple.
Served in the Mexican Mission under President Rey L. Pratt 1928-1930. Graduate of BYU in 1935 with an AB degree in geology and minors in Spanish and anthropology. Served as assistant director of an archaeological expedition to Mexico in 1936 which was followed by a teaching fellowship in the Department of Anthropology at the University of New Mexico. For three years he served as Archivist for the State of Colorado.
Moving to Salt Lake City in 1950 he became a partner with N. G. Morgan, Sr., operating as Morgan-Peterson Enterprises, Inc. One of their important projects was the establishment of a salt operation on Bear River Bay of the Great Salt Lake which later became known as Great Salt Lake Minerals and Chemicals Corporation.
Having lived in Pleasant Grove, San Antonio, Albuquerque, Laredo, El Paso, Denver, and Salt Lake City, he has always been engaged in Church activity. In earlier years in Pleasant Grove he served as Stake Superintendent of Sunday Schools in Timpanogos Stake. Later he served in a bishopric and on a high council in Salt Lake City. For 22 years he and his wife served as ordinance workers in the Salt Lake Temple.
In 1975-1977 he served with his wife on a mission to the Mormon Battalion Visitors Center in San Diego. Later they were called as co-directors, with Ray and Helen Barton, of the Family-to-Family Book of Mormon Program of the Church, serving for nearly five years.
Survived by his wife, Audrey; a daughter, Marcia (Eugene) Gronning of West Jordan and two sons, Mark (Nancy) Alpine, Utah, and Jan of Murray, Utah. Also 13 grandchildren and 26 great-grandchildren. Preceded in death by Jan's wife, Judy.
Funeral services will be held Friday, July 6, 2001, 12 noon at the Canyon Road Ward,
135 "A" Street. Friends and family may call Thursday evening from 6-8 p.m. at Larkin Mortuary, 260 East South Temple, and at the ward Friday from 10:45-11:45 a.m. Interment, Pleasant Grove Cemetery