The funeral service for Joyce M. Peterson, age 86 of Hettinger, will be held at 10:30am on Monday, January 5, 2015 at the Hettinger Lutheran Church. Pastor Kathleen Dettmann will officiate with burial in the Hettinger Cemetery. Visitation will be on Sunday from 1:00 to 7:00pm at the Centennial Chapel of the Evanson Jensen Funeral Home in Hettinger followed by a family service at 7:00 p.m.

Joyce Muriel Samdal Peterson was born December 14, 1928 at Hettinger, North Dakota to Hans C. and Edna S. (Warne) Samdal, and passed away shortly after midnight January 1, 2015 in Ashley, ND.

She grew up on the family farm in Cedar township in Adams County, ND. Joyce was the only one in her family who attended high school as Grandma Samdal put her foot down and said one of her children was going to high school. She graduated from Hettinger High School in 1946. On October 16, 1949 she was married to Orlando Peterson. They eventually moved to Lead, SD where Orlando worked at the gold mine, and Joyce was a housewife. All three of her children were born in Deadwood. In 1956, they returned to the Peterson homestead five miles west of her childhood home, in Darling Springs township, rural Reeder, to farm with Harold Peterson. Here she remained until a few years after Orlando passed away. After the family farm was sold, she and Harold moved into Hettinger, still keeping the house on the farm for a few more years. After Harold died accidentally, she moved to Bismarck for a year, then returned to Hettinger. As it was determined a couple of years later that she was beginning to suffer from Alzheimers, she moved into Maplewood Memory Care in Bismarck in 2013. In September of 2014, she then moved into the Ashley Medical Center Nursing Home.

Being descended from all Norwegian ancestors, traditional foods were always present at Christmas Eve supper and Christmas Day dinner, so there was always plenty of her homemade lefse to go around, and to give as gifts. She was still helping to make the lefse last year before her 85th birthday. Many trips out of town were made to attend lutefisk dinners and suppers. Until the past few years, the occasional trip to Deadwood or Mobridge was also a treat for her.

She was a member of Wolf Butte Lutheran Church, Wolf Butte Lutheran Ladies Aid, and Darling Springs Homemakers Club. She enjoyed baking, cooking, sewing, quilting, bowling and bingo. Just a few years ago, she donated two of her quilts to a fundraiser at Medora which brought in a tidy sum for the organization.

Those surviving are Keith and Vicki Peterson, Spencer, Iowa; Denise Peterson and Dennis Schumacher, Bismarck, ND; Veloy Bruce and Ron Morris, Hermosa, SD; grandchildren Angel (Bryan) Holmes, South Jordan, UT; Dawn Sveund (Chris Gambell), Gillette, WY; Shane (Nicole) Wothe, Josh Wothe, Bismarck; Peter A. (Theresa) Peterson, Omaha, NE; Erin Peterson, Spencer, IA; great grandchildren Colleen and Sam, Bismarck; Alexander, Marcus, Ben and Peyton, South Jordan; Edison, Omaha; and Valerie, Gillette. Also surviving are sister-in-law Lucille Wilhelmson of Spring Grove, MN; nephews Harold, Llewellyn, Delwayne, Jim, Lynn, Dale, Lonnie; and nieces Elgean and Vernell, numerous nephews- and nieces-in-law; and numerous great- and great-great- nephews and nieces.

She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Orlando Peterson; parents-in-law P.A. and Bertha Peterson; brother-in-law Harold Peterson; brothers Harry, Kermit and Vernon Samdal, and sisters Agnes Olson, Opal Bohnhoff, Alice Rogne, and Marvel Stippich; two nephews (Gerald and Duane), niece, Bonnie, two nieces-in-law, Ginger and Carol, and nephew-in-law, Bob.