Kenneth Bruce Peterson was born to G. Kenneth (G.K.) and Loraine Peterson on June 9th, 1951 in St. Paul, MN.  His maternal grandparents were Art and Edna Olson and his paternal grandparents were Emil and Magdeline Peterson.  Both sets of grandparents lived in Red Wing, MN, so it was no surprise that Ken would continue to enjoy this special place for many years to come.

The Peterson family resided in West St. Paul, MN where Ken lived in his family home on Delaware Avenue with his brother, Kurt and sister, Karen until heading to college.  As a child, Kenny was involved in the Boy Scouts and conveniently enough, Loraine was also their den mother.  Fishing in Red Wing with his Grandpa Art and his uncles provided endless amounts of enjoyment.  Ken also spent a lot of time with cousins, and his family relished taking long road trips which probably resulted in his affinity for driving and travel.

As a child, Kenny attended pre-school at St. Stephen's Lutheran Church in St. Paul, and when he had a young family of his own, decided to attend services at that very same church.  Elementary school brought Ken to Somerset in Mendota Heights, and Junior High was spent at Francis M. Grass in West St. Paul.  He graduated from Henry Sibley High in 1969.  Ken's love for the water was well known so it made sense that he joined the Sibley swim team.  More love blossomed while in high school, but this time it was between Ken and his high school sweetie, Sue Hurd.  Ken and Sue dated during their Junior year and were part of the St. Stephen's Martyr's Youth Group.  While working with the church group, they were able to go on the first co-ed Grand Portage trip to the Boundary Waters.  Although it was a young courtship, both Ken and Sue remained friends with many of their high school classmates into adulthood.  Later in life, the two would find themselves planning and organizing many class reunions for the class of 1969.

College took Ken to Winona State University, and he graduated in 1973 with a Bachelor of Arts in Art Education.  While there, he joined the fraternity Sigma Tau where he and his brothers created the Winona Walleye Club.  To be allowed back into the resorts where they had previously been dismissed, the group of young exuberant men had to come up with a legitimate name, so the Winona Walleye Club was born.  (Needless to say, they were not a fishing club.)  The guys stayed in touch throughout their post-collegiate years and continued to get together in Hastings for "Beer with Bud" on an almost weekly basis.

While at Winona State, Ken met his first wife, Judy Frank.  The two were married in June of 1974, and together they had five children.  Jessica came in 1977 and a couple of years later, Ken and Judy welcomed infant twins.  Sadly, due to a premature birth, Jeremy and Johanna passed away shortly thereafter.  Amy joined the family in 1980, and Kristy was born four years later.  The Peterson family enjoyed many summers on the boats while on both White Bear Lake and along the Mississippi River in Red Wing.

With his education and many talents in art, Ken didn't pursue a career in art education.  Although he started helping at the funeral home when he was as young as 4 ^th grade, the decision to go into the field didn't come until a couple of years after college graduation.  It was then that he decided to go back to school and earn a degree in Mortuary Science at the University of Minnesota in 1975.  After graduation, Ken continued to work alongside his father at Johnson-Peterson Funeral Home in St. Paul.  When G.K. passed in 1988, Ken took over both the funeral home in St. Paul as well as the White Bear Lake location.  Prior to his father's passing, Ken made the decision to rebuild the White Bear chapel to provide better accommodations for grieving families within the surrounding community.

Not only was Ken active in the community, but he was also extremely involved in the MFDA (Minnesota Funeral Directors Association) and the NFDA (National Funeral Directors Association).  Ken served as the MFDA President from 1993-1994 and again from 2008-2009.  He was also an At-Large Representative for NFDA.  As if that wasn't enough, Ken also recognized the need for a grief camp for children and was the first Board Chair, past President, and one of the Founding Fathers of Camp Amanda.  Camp Amanda changed names to Children's Grief Connection and is now known as Healing Hearts Connection.  While volunteering at camp, Ken did one of his favorite activities, photography.  Not only did he take amazing camp photos, but he would even drive to the nearest town to print off copies of the group photos so that all campers had a copy to take home.

Ken may have spent a lot of time working, but you could also find him spending his free time enjoying a wide variety of hobbies.  He loved skiing with his daughters, attending Minnesota Wild home games, exploring the Minnesota State Fair (multiple times every year), traveling to new and unique places, boating on the Mississippi, photographing anything that captured life in its finest form, supporting his grandkids, cooking, calligraphy and so many other fulfilling ventures.  The man even enjoyed shopping.

Although the high school romance with Sue ended back in the 60's, it wasn't until later in life that the two reconnected.  They managed a long-distance relationship for many years, and between work, kids and the stresses of daily life, they decided to wait until later to marry.  On July 11 ^th , 2003, the two exchanged vows on the St. Croix River.  Ken added two stepchildren, Adam and Amanda to his family.  The marriage brought Sue back to Minnesota from Iowa, where she retired from being a kindergarten teacher to begin working together fulltime with Ken at both funeral homes.

The two not only loved each other, but they both loved to travel.  This shared sense of adventure took them on many fun-filled excursions.  They'd scuba dive in Cozumel, set sail on an Alaskan cruise, and visit friends and family across the US.  From drinking specialty wines in Italy, to exploring Israel, soaking up the warm waters of the Dominican Republic and seeing the Northern Lights while in Iceland, the two sought out those once-in-a-lifetime experiences and followed their travel dreams together.

Prior to remarrying, Ken and Sue figured that since they both enjoyed being on and near the water so much, why not buy a "cabin" on the lake?  Another thought became reality when they purchased their home away from home on Lake Pepin, aptly naming it PepinOak.  PepinOak was a place the two could retreat to after busy days, nights, and weekends spent at Johnson-Peterson Funeral Home.  Navigating the Mississippi and taking photos of sunsets, barges, paddle boats, eagles and other wildlife seemed to be a common theme when the weather was nice and the water calm.

Ken was allergic to many things, dogs being one of them.  Somehow, Sue convinced Ken that a puppy would be a good addition to the household.  Enter Buddy.  Buddy was adopted from Ken's sister, Karen in 2005, and the two made the long drive down to Texas to pick him up.  Strangely enough, Ken was no longer allergic to dogs and Buddy went to work with the two almost every day and became certified as a K-9 Good Citizen.  That certification allowed Buddy to attend Grief Camp, and he helped console the campers with his playfulness, his love, and his genuine adoration for kids.

Ken was a proud Poppa to five grandchildren, and a beloved uncle to his niece and nephew.  Jessica's son, Kaleb (Ken's first grandson to steal his heart) had a mutual love for photography and the two would practice taking pictures together.  As Amy's children were born, Poppa Ken found himself as the official photographer, sailing supporter, girl scout cookie financier and overall cherished Poppa to Alaina, Logan, Olivia and Julia.  During summers when niece, Adora and nephew, Axel would be at the family cabin in Frontenac, Ken often found himself spending time with the two cruising the waters on the houseboat, setting off fireworks and building campfires.

As years went by, both Ken and Sue looked forward to retirement and sold the White Bear Lake funeral home in 2021.  They were anxiously looking for a buyer for the St. Paul funeral home and entered into a purchase agreement in early 2022.  While in the hospital, Ken closed on Johnson-Peterson Funeral Home on April 1 ^st , 2022.  Although he was unable to fully enjoy his retirement, Ken lived a full life.  He had a variety of health-related obstacles, but that never stopped him. The experiences mentioned are only a fraction of the life he lived.  He was a hard, dedicated man and even though he could be a grump, it wasn't uncommon to hear, "that guy would give you the shirt off his back."  And that's nothing short of the truth.  Ken provided for his family and loved them and his friends dearly.