George Howard Peterson

Remembered

(1906 - 1999)

From A Grandson's Perspective

"The greatest testament of a man's life is the people he leaves behind."

At Howard Peterson's memorial service in May 1999, his first grandchild, Duane Doyle (owner of Peterson Holding and its 3 companies), delivered the eulogy. It leaves no doubt as to how Howard imparted his legacy.

"Three things have had the greatest impact on my life when it comes to my grandfather - Howard Peterson. He never really talked to me about them. That wasn’t his way. He taught me by example. The first lesson was: work hard and do it right. He was a tireless worker and a true perfectionist. He got me and many others to work hard by setting an example. He was usually senior to anyone else but he would get right in the middle of things and show you up if you didn’t put out. I’ve heard stories from the old timers in the weld shop of how he ruined more than one business suit by jumping in and helping with a job that had to get done. He was a perfectionist himself and he held others to his standards. I remember when I was first learning to weld and was perhaps overly pleased with my progress until he told me my welds looked like pigeon droppings. I remember working with him at the Blackhawk and Diamond D ranches mostly doing demolition work in preparation for one of his remodel jobs. It always seemed like he would pick the hottest days of the summer for such ventures. I know he loved to work and he respected others who shared his value of hard work. I think I’ve visited my grandfather in the hospital more than everyone else put together. It seemed like he was always getting hurt in some way or another but it never fazed him and never slowed him down. One time he fell out of a tree onto a running chainsaw. When I saw him in the hospital that time he said, ‘I guess I cut off the wrong end of the branch’! He loved his ranches and his equipment. One Labor Day weekend we rebuilt the engine in his D5 and that Thanksgiving we did the brakes, pinions and finals on the D7. He loved to get things done. It really didn’t matter where or when as long as things got done and he could be a part of it.

"The second lesson was: if you can work hard then you can play hard too. Not many people learn to snow ski in their late fifties but he did and was actually quite a good skier. He would go just about anywhere. I remember a couple of times he took me skiing, just the two of us. One time when I was about ten years old, we went to Heavenly Valley. He took me down the face which he called ‘the gun barrel’. I didn’t do too well that day and he wasn’t too impressed with my reluctance to take on that hill. Another time in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, I was a little older but I could still get into a jam following Gramps around. We went straight to the top of the mountain on a big tram car. When we got out, the wind was so strong you could hardly walk and you could only see a few feet in front of you in the blowing snow. But we skied that mountain anyway and I’ll never forget it! He always wanted to be the first up the lift in the morning so we could make our own tracks in the fresh snow. I remember another time when he scared the living daylights out of me when I was about ten or eleven. He had a 1965 or '66 Buick Wildcat convertible. He still owned the Triple J Ranch and had just bought the Blackhawk. He took me for a ride in that Wildcat the back way to Blackhawk past the old Camp Parks - no seat belts, top down, faster than I’d ever been in my life. God watched over us that day. Gramps had a blast!