David E. Peterson

David had a passion for sports and keeping his body in good shape. When he was in junior high school, he played football and wrestled. One time at football practice, when he had the wind knocked out of him, his coach remarked, “Pound for pound, David is the toughest player on this team.” He was too small to play football in high school. He wrestled at Windsor High School. He wrestled in the 98lb category. He was so small that he never had to worry about “making weight”. In his twenties he played racquetball and tennis. When Alec McGinn bought a boat, David started water-skiing. He was passionate about his water skiing. He was always trying to improve his style. When he began to date Kathleen, she taught him how to snow ski. He was an avid hiker. He hiked trails all his life. One of David & Kathleen’s first dates was a hike in the Poudre Canyon. He made it to the top of two 14ers: Mount Evans & Pike’s Peak (funny – ha, ha). Sometime in his 50’s he joined a family-based fantasy football team. He loved this activity. One league was not enough for him. So, he started fantasy football and baseball teams of his own. He recruited Christian men to play on these teams. They shared scriptures and prayed for one another. He had always watched the Denver Broncos, but after he started fantasy football, he would watch as many NFL games as he could. In 2016 (age 59), he competed in a sprint triathlon. After this event, he continued to run 5K’s. He would work on Tuesdays and Thursdays and run on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. In the fall of 2019, he adopted a dog named Duke. Duke became his running partner. Sometimes on Fridays the two of them would run 10Ks. In December of 2023, these two set a personal best record for the 10K. Their last 5K run together was on January 24, 2024. After the pancreatic cancer diagnosis, David continued to walk with Duke. Sometimes it was just around the block, but most of the time it was to the park and back (a little under a mile). At the end of his life, David was doing squats in the shower to keep up his muscle tone. This stopped when Hospice told Kathleen that he could not take any more unsupervised showers. (He was a fall risk.). At his first Hospice meeting, he told the nurse from Hospice that he could still do 17 push-ups.

David had a passion for Jesus. As a child he attended the Catholic Church. During this time, he baptized all his pets so that they could go to heaven also (funny – ha, ha). When he was in his early 20’s he started watching Lowell Lundstrom on the television. After each show he would pray with Pastor Lundstrom and ask Jesus into his heart. (At the time he did not know that one only has to ask Jesus into their heart once. – One and done.) His friend, Alec, invited him to the Faith Ministries church in Greeley. While he was attending this church, he got filled with the Holy Spirit. Later, David started attending Resurrection Fellowship in Loveland. He married his wife, Kathleen, at this church. He, his wife, and all three of his children, were baptized at this church. After Kathleen had been teaching Sunday School for a few years, he got tired of sitting in the service all alone. So, he became an usher. He ushered for several years. His children went to Christian Schools all through their school years (pre-K through 12th grade). His middle child, John, even went to a Christian University (Oral Roberts University in Tulsa). He got to go on a tour of the Holy Land with Kathleen and Daniel (his oldest son). This tour was hosted by John

& Linda Stocker, the pastors of Resurrection Fellowship. At a later time, his daughter, Mary, also got to visit the Holy Land. David was passionate about learning about the End Times and the rapture of the church. If you mentioned the End Times, he would talk your ear off. In 2020, David and Kathleen started attending Citipointe NoCo church. This is where David’s Celebration of Life will take place.

David had a passion for music. During junior high school and high school, he played the alto-sax in the band. He loved to listen to his L.P.s; 8 tracks; cassettes & C.D.s. Early in his life he listened to Jimmy Horton (one of his dad’s favorite musicians). He also listened to the Everly Brothers, because his Aunt Evey had given his family some of their L.P.’s. One of his siblings cut an Archie record off the back of a cereal box. As he became older, he became a fan of the Beetles; McCartney and Wings; Bread; and other great musicians. About the time that he got married, he started to listen to contemporary Christian music. He wrote some original songs and recorded them on a cassette tape. Kathleen and Mary may be the only people who have heard these songs. He had a desire to sing in the church choir, but that never happened. However, now he is singing in the largest church choir: the one in heaven.

David had a passion for his work. During his senior year in high school, he was an intern at Kodak. After high school, he began to work at Kodak. However, Kodak was not a good fit for him, so he quit and then attended AIMS Community College. He started by studying accounting, and later he changed his major to computers. He graduated from AIMS with an A.S. degree in Electronic Data Processing. His first job, after college, was at the Data Service Center in Fort Collins. In March of 1980 he started working at Colorado State University in the computer center. His job consisted of loading computer punch cards; mounting tapes; and taking papers off the printer and filing those papers in the appropriate boxes. CSU allowed their employees to take one college course each semester at no charge. David used this benefit to take a computer class. Due to his new knowledge, the department added some basic computer programming jobs to his duties. David worked hard and eventually became the assistant supervisor of the computer center. If the supervisor was on vacation or on maternity leave, he would perform all the duties of the supervisor. While he was the assistant supervisor, he worked the swing shift (4:00 p.m. to midnight). Eventually, he became the supervisor of the computer center. This was perfect timing since his oldest child was just starting school. This allowed David to work the day shift, which meant he could spend his evenings with his family. David had always wanted to work his way up to the supervisor position, however he found that he did not enjoy working as the supervisor. He did not like scheduling the weeks of Spring Break and Christmas because his employees wanted this time off, but he had to make sure all the shifts were covered. He also did not like disciplining and reprimanding employees. In 1997 during his time as supervisor there was a once in a 500-year flood. It flooded the A, B, C & D wing basements of the Engineering Building. The E wing basement, which is where the computers for the university were housed, did not flood. Thus, none of the university’s computers were damaged in this massive flood. Eventually, David left the computer center, and he joined the computer programmers. His new

job involved sitting in a cubicle and solving problems all day long. He loved this phase of his career! He retired in 2015. He worked at Colorado State for over 35 years. His managers offered him a part-time job (post-retirement), which allowed him to share his knowledge with the next generation of programmers. He worked two days a week until he retired permanently in 2023.

David loved his pets. His pet dogs included Kelly; Tinker; Gus; Rusty; Ginger; Chance; Millie; Norrin Radd; and Duke. His pet cats included Lady Mary; King; Goldie; Callie; Captain Jack Sparrow & Tiger.

David had a passion for his family. David and Kathleen worked hard raising their children. They were not perfect parents, but they raised three incredible children. In 2021, another incredible person was added to the family, their son-in-law, Robert Fish.

David was the son of Kenneth and Patricia Peterson. He was born at Weld County Hospital in Greeley on March 23, 1957.

He was a cub scout.

He graduated from Windsor High School in 1975.

He graduated from Aims Community College in 1979.

He began working at Colorado State University in March 1980.

He married Kathleen Hofmann in 1986.

From 1988 to 1995 he added three children to his family.

He retired from his full-time job at Colorado State University in 2015.

He retired from his part-time job (two days a week) in 2023.

He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer on January 26, 2024.

He died on July 6, 2024.

Those who survive him are:

His wife: Kathleen Peterson

His children: Daniel Peterson; John Peterson; & Mary (Robert Fish) Peterson

His siblings: Joe (Linda) Peterson; Rose (Mike) Hojio; & Laurie (Jerry Certain) Ferguson

His stepmom: Betsy Peterson

Aunts & Uncles: Evey and Al Andres; Eileen Young (Jerry’s widow); & Susann Young (Bill’s widow)

In lieu of flowers please donate to PanCAN (Pancreatic Cancer Action Network).

To make a donation go to David’s PanCAN memorial page: https://secure.pancan.org/site/TR/DIY/DIYTeamraisers?px=3647647&pg=personal&fr_id=2443

David's Celebration of Life will be on August 10, 2024 at 2:00 pm at Citipointe Church, 5657 McWhinney Blvd Loveland, CO 80538.