Eva Anita (Endecott) Peterson, 97, Drexel, MO, died Saturday, January 8, 2011 at Crown Care Center in Harrisonville, MO. Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m. Thursday, January 13 at the First Baptist Church in Archie, MO. Visitation will be from 6:00-8:00 p.m. Wednesday, January 12 at the church. Burial will be in Crescent Hill Cemetery, Adrian, MO. Memorial contributions may be made to the church Chat & Sew Group or to Grace Hospice.
Eva was born October 8, 1913, in rural Miami County, Kansas, the sixth of ten children born to Thomas William and Daisy Della (Bruner) Endecott. She attended Drexel, Missouri High School, where she excelled as a student and member of the basketball team, the Debate Team, the Girls Reserve Club and Drama Club, graduating in 1931. She later attended the Chillicothe Business College in Chillicothe, MO for one year.
On April 28, 1934, she married Clarence Eldon Peterson of the Main City area east of Drexel. There, they farmed with his parents, Waldo and Erma, and started a dairy, selling milk to a cheese factory, then with a larger herd, producing grade A milk. They also raised turkeys and chickens, at one time selling eggs to a hatchery in Archie, MO. Two children, Larry Eldon and Laraine Dell completed their family.
In addition to the duties of a farm wife, Eva was a homemaker, a gardener, a Sunday school teacher and a quilter. She was active in church, school and community participating in the Prairie View Benefit Extension Club, the Cass County Hospital Auxiliary Pink Ladies, the Archie First Baptist Chat and Sew Group and Golden Circle Class. She often served as an election clerk or judge.
Eva was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, Eldon on August 16, 1988; a son-in-law, Randy Walters, brothers, Franklin Marion and Melville Harrison, sisters, Lourene Ann at age 9, Bertha Viola (Dakin), Isadora Elizabeth (Sage), Daisy Dell (Shultz-Daily) and Mary Ellen (Aurand).
She leaves behind her son, Larry Peterson and wife, Rosemary of rural Adrian, MO; daughter, Laraine Walters of Lebanon, MO; grandchildren, Lorence “Gene” Peterson and wife, Donna of Drexel, MO, Paul Peterson and wife, Kathy of Camdenton, MO, Kenneth Peterson and wife, Carmen of Drexel, MO, Bradley Walters and wife, Alissa and Jennifer Boyd and husband, Michael of Parkville, MO; great-grandchildren, Melissa Clark and husband, Mike, Melinda Yoakum and husband, Jarod, Myles and Trenton Peterson, Jacob and Gwyneth Walters; step-grandchildren Ashley and Michelle Johnson, Britany, Andrea, and Madison Horton and great-great-grandson, Colt Yoakum; brother, Thomas Alvan Endecott of Drexel, MO; sister, Ruth May Hudson of Tehachapi, CA and a host of other relatives and friends.
