Father Gerald Joseph “Pete” Peterson, a Glenmary Home Missioner, died on May 13 in Cincinnati. He was 96 and in his 74th year of religious life.
Father Peterson, who is from Loretto, Ky., served as a vocations recruiter, missionary and pastor. In 1952, he was a member of the community’s second novitiate class. He earned a doctorate in divinity from Vanderbilt University.
He served in parishes and missions in parts of Appalachia and in areas of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee. He was also a vocations recruiter, traveling to Nigeria to recruit new Glenmary Home Missioners. At age 59, he went to Mexico to learn Spanish, as Spanish-speaking immigrants had begun to show up in his rural mission parishes.
During his ministry, he created a “Dial-a-Bus” program to provide transportation for medical appointments and groceries, a housing program, a day-care center, a dental and eye-care clinic, a rummage store, a prenatal-care program and an emergency food service.
He is survived by his twin, Geraldine Peterson, members of his religious community and extended family.
Reception of the body will take place at 3:30 p.m. on June 2, at Our Lady of the Fields Chapel in Fairfield, Ohio. Visitation will follow. A wake service will begin at 7 p.m.
The Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. on June 3 at Community of the Good Shepherd in Cincinnati.
Memorial gifts may be made to Glenmary Home Missioners, P.O. Box 465618, Cincinnati, OH 45246-5618.
