Joseph Louis Peterson
Joseph Louis Peterson
1929 ~ 2023
Joseph Louis Peterson, age 94, passed away September 17, 2023 in Highland, Utah. Joe was born in Pleasant Grove, Utah May 16 1929 to Joseph Reed Peterson and Marcella Deane Fage. Growing up in Pleasant Grove included school, working the farm, fishing and hunting. After high school, Joe attended Brigham Young University. In 1949, he accepted a mission call from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to serve in the Northern States Mission which included Iowa and Wisconsin. Upon his return home, he attended Utah State Agriculture College (Utah State University) and earned his Bachelor’s and a Master’s Degree in Plant Pathology. During his time at Utah University, he met the love of his life Karen Ruth Reeder. They were sealed for time and all eternity in the Logan Utah Temple June 10, 1953.
Joe continued his schooling by earning a PhD in Plant Pathology at the University of Wisconsin and thereafter accepted a professor position at Rutgers State University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. For the next 32 years Joe would become a well-known expert in his field on plant diseases, teaching, researching, publishing, and speaking. He was specifically an expert in fungi/mushrooms. After retiring from Rutgers University, Joe and Karen moved back to their roots in Utah.
Joe was an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. During his years in New Jersey, he served as a Ward Clerk, Stake High Councilor, Bishop’s Counselor, Bishop, and Stake Presidency Counselor. After returning to Utah, Joe & Karen have served as ordinance workers in the Provo and Mt. Timpanogos temples; as a Counselor in the Provo Missionary training Center Branch Presidency and then as a Branch President. In 2006 Joe and Karen were called as Church Service Missionaries at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City where they served for 3 years.
Joe has always been an active person. As a youth he rode horses, hunted, was a member of the school riding club and drove cattle up into the valleys of Mt. Timpanogos. He was an avid bird watcher and stamp collector. He loved to sing and sang in church choir and in a barbershop quartet. He and Karen were members of several bowling teams for most of their married life and they enjoyed a host of board and card games with family and friends. Joe was still playing golf at age 81. He is a big fan of the New York Mets, the Utah Jazz, BYU basketball and football. In his declining years he still attended the temple on a weekly basis, read the newspaper every day, played card games and walked daily, weather permitting.
Joe’s greatest joy was his family. He and Karen are the parents of 2 children, Jolene (George Yaede) and Robert (Alice), 8 grandchildren, and 10 great grandchildren. Joe was preceded in death by his wife, Karen, his parents, his brothers Don and Steve, his sister Jeneal and his son Robert. He is survived by his daughter Jolene (George Yaede), his daughter-in-law Alice, eight grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren.
Funeral services for Joe will be held on Friday, September 22, 2023 at 11:00 am in the American Fork 19th Ward Chapel, located at 1305 North 100 East, American Fork, Utah. Family and friends are invited to attend a visitation on Friday morning from 10:00-10:45 am prior to service at the church. Interment will follow in the American Fork City Cemetery.