Normand Larry Peterson

Normand Larry Peterson, born December 29, 1926, died on October 2, 2025, in Salt Lake City, Utah.

He loved his life.

He loved growing up in Aberdeen, Idaho, where he was born the final child to Fritjof Helon Peterson and Margret Ora Bartlett Peterson.

He loved all 9 of his older brothers and sisters, whom he looked up to as mentors and nurturers throughout his life, in the rural railroad town of Aberdeen. His father died when he was 11, but his mother raised her family with a strength he regarded as a force in his life. She died in 1977, but she was on his mind and in his heart on the day he died.

He loved his wife, Ruth Louise Mars Steinfeldt Peterson, who was his companion, his support, and his “home” for the 56 years of their marriage (September 17, 1948), until she died on October 7, 2004.

He loved his children: Mark Normand (died as an infant), Rebecca Ann (Jerry) Richard, Ramona Louise Shabazz, and Michael Scott (who preceded him in death, in 2020). And he especially loved each of his 4 grandchildren, along with the 6 great-grandchildren they brought him. He loved his father and mother-in-law and missed them after they passed. And oh, how he missed his brothers and sisters who passed before him! Each were memories that continued to inhabit his days, long after they were gone. Dear to him too were beloved nephews and nieces and so many members of the extended Peterson clan. He was, truly, a family man.

He loved the Teton Mountains in Wyoming, and camping, hiking, canoeing, appreciating nature and taking his place exploring it. During his yearly escape to Lake Jenny, his enthusiasm was renewed by the steady and invigorating pulse of nature.

He loved math. And physics, astronomy, aeronautics, engineering, and military history. He loved education, wished he could have taught, and would have taken university courses every year of his life, were he able, and he did so at times with his nephew and daughter.

He loved music: Old-time popular tunes he would sing with his family on road trips, military marches, and especially symphonic music. He loved the Utah Symphony Orchestra, where he and Ruth were Season Ticket Holders for over 54 years.

He loved his religion, his church. He loved The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and had a profound and unquestioning testimony of its truthfulness. He served in many capacities and was always faithful to what he felt it required of him. This belief centered his life.

Normand Peterson was a man of inner strength unto himself, who lived as he believed, who rose from humble beginnings and aspired to lofty goals, was proud of his accomplishments, and never ceased aspiring to more. He loved his life and made of it a purposeful effort for good for 99 years and 9 months, and left it, as well, with quiet purpose, and at peace.

And he was loved, throughout all the seasons of his life, by many extraordinary people. He was loved.

Funeral services will be held at 12:00 pm on Thursday, October 9, 2025, at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1535 East Bonneview Drive, Salt Lake City, Utah. There will be a viewing prior to the service from 11:00 to 11:45 am. Interment will be at the Salt Lake City Cemetery.

To view the recorded service, please click on the Watch Service button above.