Jon Peterson

Dr. Jon Peterson -- Bourbonnais Visitation for Dr. Jon Jay Peterson, 62, of Bourbonnais, will be from 4-8 p.m. Wednesday at the Clancy-Gernon Funeral Home, Bourbonnais. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Thursday at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church, Kankakee, where he was a member. Father Charles Wheeler will officiate. Burial will be in Pine Ridge Cemetery, Loda. Memorials may be made to Provena St. Mary's Hospital, Riverside Medical Center, St. Ambrose University or to Hospice of Kankakee Valley. He died Monday (Feb. 27, 2006) at Provena St. Mary's Hospital. Dr. Peterson was a physician and surgeon. He was born March 14, 1943, in Galesburg, the son of Arthur and Mary Agnes Ward Peterson. He was a graduate of Rock Island High School and St. Ambrose University in Chicago and received his medical degree in 1969 from the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago. He completed his internship at Cook County Hospital and his surgical residency at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Wis. He served in the U.S. Army from 1974-76 at Ft. Carson, Colorado Springs, Colo., attaining the rank of major. In 1976 he was assigned to a M.A.S.H. unit in Guatemala serving as a trauma surgeon after a major earthquake devastated the country. Following his honorable discharge in 1976, Dr. Peterson moved to Kankakee, joining Dr. James Kennedy in his surgical practice. After Dr. Kennedy retired Dr. Peterson was joined by Dr. Paul Rowland, Dr. James Hamilton and later by Dr. Robert Brockman. Dr. Peterson was forced to retire due to his sudden illness in October of 2005. He served both Riverside and St. Mary's hospitals over the years as chairman of surgery, chief of surgery and medical staff president. He was a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, a member of the Illinois Surgical Society, the Kankakee County Medical Society and the Kankakee Country Club. Dr. Peterson was also the president of General Surgeons of Kankakee from 1976 to October 2005. He enjoyed golfing, reading, gardening, traveling, and spending time with his family and grandchildren. He will be remembered for his sense of humor, his dedication to his patients, his great knowledge, skill, talent and professionalism. He was much loved by family, friends, patients, and by medical and nursing staff. Most of all, he was a loving husband, father and grandfather. He will be missed by all who knew him. Surviving are his wife, the former Mary Ann Hamilton, whom he married Aug. 5, 1967, at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church; two sons and daughters-in-law, Jay and Myra Peterson of Frankfort, Jonathan and Michelle Peterson of Bourbonnais; one daughter and son-in-law, Jamie Ann and Jassen Strokosch of Oak Park; two sisters and brothers-in-law, Mary Sue and Albert Doyle of Rock Island, JoEllen and Len Gasper of Moline; one brother and sister-in-law, Ward and Sandra Peterson of Rock Island; and seven grandchildren, Jake, Andrew, Ben, Ava, Sam, Ethan and Liam. His parents and one infant brother are deceased.

Jon Peterson

March 14, 1943 - February 27, 2006