Died Nov. 21, 2009
NORTHPORT — Anne Elizabeth Peterson, of Northport, passed away Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009. She was 82 years old.
Anne was the daughter of Marion Howe and Leo Knofler, born in New York City on March 20, 1927. She lived in Germany, Czechoslovakia and Austria until she was 11. In 1938, just before Hitler annexed Austria, Marion left Europe with her two daughters, Anne and Peggy, and returned to her hometown of Omaha, Neb.
Later the family relocated to New York City, and Anne attended high school in Queens, and then went on to get her Bachelor of Arts in philosophy at Adelphi University on Long Island. In 1951 she received her master’s in education from the University of Buffalo.
Anne lived for a time in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, where she taught elementary school to migrant children before teaching with the Army in Germany, 1954 to 1955. During that year she travelled widely throughout Europe and Morocco. After completing this tour, Anne moved to San Francisco, where she taught school and met her husband, Richard. They met folk dancing at the William Tell, and were married on Dec. 21, 1958. Their daughter, Nancy was born in 1960.
In 1967, Richard earned his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley, and he was offered a position as Associate Professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. That same year the family moved to the North Shore of O’ahu, and Anne taught at Halejwa Elementary School until her retirement in 1987. For the next 12 years she worked as a substitute teacher at various public schools in the Central District.
Anne was a great lover of classical music and the opera. As a teenager she belonged to The Standees Club, which allowed her to see an opera at New York City’s Metropolitan Opera House for one dollar — the caveat being that she had to stand for the entire opera!
Anne is survived by her husband, Richard Einer Peterson of Honolulu, Hawaii; her daughter, Nancy (Patrick Muller) Peterson of Northport; her beloved grandchildren, Hans Pohaikealoha Muller, Anina Punahele Muller and Fiona Maluhia Muller.
She was preceded in death by her first husband, Everett Leroy Denman; and her younger sister, Peggy Louise Sisson.
There will be no memorial or funeral service, as Anne wished to donate her body for medical research. After study is completed, her cremated remains will be returned to her daughter and interred in a beautiful Chinese ginger jar, where she will “hang out in the living room with the family.” Those who wish to remember Anne can do so by lighting a candle, having a glass of wine and listening to “The Drinking Song” from Verdi’s opera “La Traviata.”
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Salvation Army or to the Northport Promise Scholarship Fund, which will benefit her grandchildren and other Northport Public School students; www.northportpromise.com.
Please share memories with the family on Anne’s online guest book at www.reynolds-jonkhoff.com.
The family is being served by the Reynolds-Jonkhoff Funeral Home, Traverse City.