Kay Lou Peterson

Funeral Services for Kay Lou Peterson age 89 of Neligh will be 10:30 a.m. Saturday May 30, 2026 at 1st Congregational United Church of Christ in Neligh, Nebraska with Delores Ruzicka officiating. Visitation will be 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Friday, May 29, 2026, at Beyer Snider Memorial Funeral Home in Neligh, Nebraska with Order of Eastern Star Service at 7:00 p.m. Burial will be in Laurel Hill Cemetery in Neligh, Nebraska. Beyer Snider Memorial Funeral Home is handling the arrangements. Kay Lou passed away on May 27, 2026 at Accura Healthcare in Neligh. Condolences may be directed to the family at www.snidermemorial.com

In lieu of flowers, Memorials suggested to P.E.O. and Kirk Peterson Scholarship.

Kay Louise (Dixon) Peterson was born in the Ruth Potter Hospital for unwed mothers at Fremont, Nebraska on June 12, 1936. She was soon adopted by Fred and Hazel Dixon of Neligh, Nebraska. And was welcomed into their warm and loving home. Her dad passed away when Kay Lou was 12 years old and her mother was completely blind by that time.

Kay Lou did well in school where she was very active in band, chorus and the Neligh Warroretts. Kay Lou was the Neligh Homecoming Queen in 1953.

After high school Kay Lou attended Wayne State Teachers College for 1 year where she was runner up for Queen of the Green, Freshman Attendant for Homecoming, worked on the school paper, and Vice President of the Freshman class.

After her first year at Wayne State, she returned to Neligh to work for Elmer Rakow in his law office, where she had worked the summer before.

She married Keith Peterson on Saint Patrick’s Day in 1956 when Keith was in the Army. She stayed home for a year to care for her mother, then joined Keith at Fort Lewis, in Washington. Kay Lou then worked in the Personnel Department at the Washington State Capital in Olympia, WA.

After Keith left the Army, they returned to Neligh and farmed for six years where she started to raise her four sons Kerry, Kirk, Kraig, and Kevin.

Keith then joined the Nebraska State Patrol and was assigned to Gordon, Nebraska. The family arrived in Gordon in October of 1963.

In Gordon Kay Lou was elected to the office of City Police Magistrate. She would hold court early each morning, then go manage the low rent housing units all morning. She would then work for Rex Strong Insurance in the afternoon followed by being the dispatcher at the Police Station at night (whew).

When Kay Lou was 16 years old, Fernie Mae White started a Job’s Daughters Bethel in Neligh which became her lifelong affiliation with Job’s Daughters and the Order of the Eastern Star and P.E.O.

While in Gordon, she became the head of their Job’s Daughters chapter and later became head of their head of the entire State. She belonged to Eastern Star in Neligh Gordon, Enid (OK), Orchard, and Plainview. While in Enid she attained the position of a Grand officer for the State of Oklahoma.

In 1977 Keith took a job in Enid, Oklahoma, where Kay Lou worked at Walter Norman Magnovox Television Store. Then she worked at the Commissary at Vance Air Force Base in Enid.

Kay Lou retired in 2007 and with Keith moved back to Neligh. In 2018 Kay Lou, through Ancestry.com, found her biological family. She was excited and pleased to meet her brother Ed and sister Cleo.

Survivors include her husband Keith Peterson; children Kerry L Peterson, Kraig L (Connie) Peterson, and Kevin L. (Lisa) Peterson, daughter-in-law Tracie (Roger) Peterson-Rudloff, 11 grandchildren and 17 great- grandchildren; brother Edward (Carol) Faudel; sister Cleo Moehl, and numerous nephews and nieces.

She was preceded in death by her adoptive parents Fred and Hazel Dixon, her biological parents Edward and Ethelyn Faudel, son Kirk L Peterson; sister Kay (Faudel) Peck; brother-in-law Larry Moehl.