Bob Peterson was the perpetual-motion volunteer, whether it was entertaining Alzheimer’s patients or getting raccoons out of a neighbor’s chimney.
The lifelong Arvada bachelor, who died of cancer at age 62, devoted his life to volunteering.
A quiet, reserved, sturdy man, he lived simply and rarely thought of himself. He raised vegetables rather than flowers because “corn was more useful than flowers,” said his brother, Eric Peterson of Tucson.
“He was like one of those ‘Norwegian bachelor farmers,”‘ said Eric Peterson, referring to the mythical people in Lake Wobegone described on Garrison Keillor’s radio program, “A Prairie Home Companion.”
But that all changed about a year ago when Bob Peterson met Susan Gibson on his daily visits to Spring Ridge nursing facility in Arvada, where his mother, Mary Peterson, lives.
The two started dating, and instead of “going out to eat four times a year, Bob was going out four times a week,” said Eric Peterson, who delights in telling the story.
They had their first date at Starbucks, and Bob Peterson, predictably, had plain coffee – nothing fancy.
After that, it was plays, movies, concerts and dinners. Sometimes Peterson cooked for Gibson – liver and onions or meat loaf. But he also liked to make Italian wedding cookies, Gibson said.
“He was my best friend and companion,” said Gibson. Peterson showered her with gifts – flowers, chocolates, stuffed animals, even a crock pot – though “I’m lukewarm on cooking,” she said.
Peterson worked for 30 years as an administrative clerk at Rocky Flats, but he was already in high volunteer mode before retiring at age 50.
He watched over his father, Arno Peterson, until his death in 1991 and visited his mother several days a week until his own death.
His volunteering took him to St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church. He also was an usher at the Arvada Center, a volunteer aide at Lutheran Medical Center in Wheat Ridge and a volunteer at the Arvada Senior Center and other organizations.
He was known in his neighborhood for fixing, mowing and solving problems.
“He got the raccoons out of my chimney,” said Grace Klingens, a 50-year neighbor. Though he covered the chimney with webbing, the raccoons returned, she said.
The next time she called him, Peterson, who never saw an animal he didn’t like, looked down the chimney at the raccoon family and said, “What are you guys doing down there?”
He cleaned her gutters, mowed lawns and repaired things for people, she said. He never wanted pay, so Klingens paid him in cake and brownies. He reciprocated with gifts from his vegetable garden.
He fed the skunk, deer and fox that showed up in his yard, participated in parties at senior centers and did magic tricks at elementary schools and for birthday parties.
“He had to be busy, he loved people, and he figured he’d been given a lot of things in life,” said Eric Peterson. “He was just a giver.”
When Bob Peterson was given a Christmas list of possible items for his nieces and nephews, “he bought the entire list,” said Eric Peterson.
Robert Arno Peterson was born March 31, 1943, in Detroit, and came to Colorado with his parents when he was a child. The family moved to Colorado because two of Peterson’s brothers had asthma.
In addition to his mother and his brother Eric, he is survived by another brother, David Peterson of Kansas City, Kan., and two nieces and two nephews. He was preceded in death by another brother, Dan Peterson.
Staff writer Virginia Culver can be reached at vculver@denverpost.com or 303-820-1223.
