Weston Conrad Peterson

Weston Conrad Peterson was born on September 11, 1930, the first son of Kathryn and Sigfrid Peterson in Canby, Oregon. His grandparents were Arthur and Genevieve Falkner and Conrad and Anna Peterson. Weston was later joined in the family by brother David in 1931.

Weston grew up in Canby and attended Canby schools. He graduated from Canby Union High School in 1949. During his high school years, he lettered three years in wrestling. It was during this time that he also completed the requirements to earn Eagle Scout rank with the Boy Scouts. Remarkably, at the All-Class Reunion of the Canby High School graduating classes through 1973 in October 2023, Weston was the oldest graduate to attend.

Weston married Lola “Arlene” Lay in 1950. Weston and Arlene had three children: Gary Peterson born in 1952, Sheila Peterson Daniels born in 1953, and Karen Peterson born in 1954. Weston and Arlene later divorced. Weston married Linda Peterson in 1991.

Weston started working as newspaper carrier for the Portland Oregonian following high school. He delivered approximately 300 newspapers by automobile early each morning in rural Clackamas County in an area which included Liberal, Meadowbrook, Mulino and Colton. He was known for his dependability to get the papers delivered on time each day. Indeed, he was publicly recognized for his timeliness when it was reported by a customer that, on a night when the power had been out, the customer reset his clock based on the time of the newspaper delivery. The clock was within 5 minutes of the actual time.

Weston worked 16 years as a newspaper carrier before starting a career as a zookeeper with the Portland Zoo in 1968. During this time, he most frequently worked with the large cats, bears and elephants. He retired from this position in 1993.

In his retirement, Weston enjoyed traveling with Linda and was quite proud of having visited all fifty states as well as a trip to Sweden with daughter Karen to see the ancestral home of the Petersons. Later, Weston thoroughly enjoyed the daily walks with Linda, often at Salem’s Minto Brown Island Park along the Willamette River.

Weston was preceded in death by his parents and brother David. He is survived by his wife Linda of Salem; son Gary of Corvallis; daughter Sheila of Hubbard; daughter Karen of Souderton, Pennsylvania; six grandchildren (Zach Peterson, Rachael Dunnell, Kristin Wilson, Lauren Humphreys, Justin Peterson and Nikolas Peterson) and eight great grandchildren.