Shirley Peterson

Shirley Violet Peterson, 80, died peacefully January 12, 2017 in her home in Fargo, North Dakota. In the weeks preceding she was surrounded daily by friends and family.

Shirley was born June 16, 1936 in Edgeley, N.D., to proud parents Carl and Dorothy (Schnell) Fischer. She was their only child. She graduated from Edgeley High School in 1954. In 1958 Shirley married Curtis Peterson from Stanley, N.D., at Zion Lutheran Church in Edgeley.

Shirley attended Moorhead State University in Moorhead, Minnesota, and received her elementary education degree in 1964 and her master’s degree in 1965. Shirley’s teaching career started in 1957 in Harvey, N.D., and in 1964 she found her way to Longfellow Elementary School in Fargo, where she had a focus on the Gifted and Talented Program.

After teaching for 18 years her focus switched to public service and politics, which became a passion she kept the rest of life. Shirley was hired as the public affairs director for the Greater North Dakota Association Chamber of Commerce. She was appointed as director of North Dakota Job Service in 1981. She moved to Washington D.C. in 1984 when she was appointed to the position of Commissioner of Labor Statistics in the United States Department of Labor. In 1988 she moved to Los Angeles, where she was hired as the vice president of organization development and ethics for Northrop Corporation. After leaving Northrop in 1996 Shirley opened the consulting firm Peterson & Associates to assist international corporations with their business conduct and ethics on a global scale. During this phase of her life, Shirley was also pursued by various organizations, including the Girl Scouts of America and Partnership for a Drug Free America, to lead them. The Chinese government even requested her assistance in the setting up private schools. She declined all these offers and decided to leave the corporate ‘rat race.’ In 1999, she formally retired and moved to Indian Wells, California.

During her retirement Shirley spent her summers living at Minnesota’s Lake Lida and driving around in her one of her prized Corvettes. She spent her winters in Indian Wells with friends, eating at wonderful restaurants and visiting countless art galleries. All the while spending time with her beloved toy poodle, Rusty. In 2013 she moved back to Fargo to make new friends, be close to old friends and be closer still to family.

Shirley was a tireless advocate for equality and women’s rights on a local, state and national level. Throughout all her years she volunteered on and was appointed to numerous public and private councils, boards and committees -- a list too long to mention all of them. Among the highlights of her countless accomplishments, Shirley was the former President of the Jayceettes, a recipient of the Robert A. Taft Institute of Government Fellows Award, a delegate to the National Woman’s Year Conference, named Outstanding Young Educator for 1969 in Fargo and North Dakota’s Outstanding Young Educator by the Jaycees the same year. She was elected president of the North Dakota Education Association in 1976. In 1977 she was the North Dakota International Women’s Year Conference Chair. In 1978 she helped create the North Dakota Business Challenge program. In 1980 Shirley sought the nomination for North Dakota’s Lieutenant Governor, but was narrowly defeated on a second ballot. Shirley was recognized by the YWCA and F-M chambers of commerce as the woman of the year in 1981. In 1982 Moorhead State honored her as a Distinguished Alumni. In 1983 she was one of five women in the United States to receive the Women in Government Award. Throughout the mid 1980’s she served as one of only 20 civilians in the United States on the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services. This list could go on page-after–page-after-page.

Shirley was a strong woman with incredible willpower. In 2007 Shirley was diagnosed with Ovarian cancer and given 2 to 5 years to live. Like everything in her life, she took this challenge as something that could be overcome. And she fought admirably for almost 9 years.

Shirley was preceded in death by her parents, Carl and Dorothy Fisher. Shirley is survived by her two sons, Shane (Courtney) and Chad (Ashley); And her grandchildren, Elyssa, Torrey, Fisher and Mollie.

Memorials are preferred to Roger Maris Cancer Center at Sanford Health, Fargo.

Funeral:  Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017 at 2 PM at First Lutheran Church, Fargo with visitation one hour prior.

West Funeral Home & Life Tribute Center

westfuneralhome.com