Roger Burton Peet Obituary (1926

Roger Burton Peet, 88, Mandan, North Dakota, passed away Tuesday, January 27, 2015, at Missouri Slope Lutheran Care Center, Bismarck. Funeral Services will be held at 11:00 AM, Friday, January 30, 2015, at McCabe United Methodist Church, Bismarck, with Rev. Jenny Hallenbeck officiating. Visitation is scheduled for 5-7:00 PM, with a Masonic Service at 6:30 PM and a Prayer Service beginning at 7:00 PM, Thursday, January 29, 2015, at DaWise-Perry Funeral Services, Mandan. Visitation continues one hour prior to the service at the church. Burial will be in Sunset Memorial Gardens, Bismarck. Roger was born November 30, 1926, in Duluth, Minnesota, to Roger M. and Mary (Silseth) Peet. He was raised in Floodwood, MN and Minneapolis MN, and graduated from Fargo High School in 1944. He entered the Air Force Reserve program on June 6, 1944, at age 17, at Fort Snelling in Minneapolis and was sent to Coe College in Cedar Rapids, IA. He started at ND State University in Fargo in 1945 majoring in Civil Engineering and pledged Sigma Phi Delta, the engineering fraternity. He met his wife, Delphia Pladson, in 1947 and they got married on July 3, 1948, in Detroit Lakes, MN. Roger was always working at selling something, first flower seeds, then magazines, then newspapers. He also worked as a bell hop in the Powers Hotel. At 14, he hitchhiked to Des Moines, Pasadena, Bakersfield, Grand Canyon, New Mexico, and Texas getting home the day before school started. He worked part time as a groomer for Northwest Airlines. He had a business called Northwest Lifetime Plastics and set up dealers in three states laminating cards, pictures, etc. He sold for the Philip Morris Company, General Mills and then the L.G. Balfour Company for 28 years. With his father and brother, he formed Peet Enterprises and purchased the OPR building, land in NE Bismarck, and was part of Twilight Hills Ski area. Roger and Delphia hosted exchange students from Mexico, Germany, and Norway. He was especially fond of Jose Rivero from Vera Cruz who became like a son to him. He managed the Sheraton Hotel in Bismarck for a time. He also sold long term care insurance until he retired at 85. He has served as President of the University of Mary Board of Regents, President of Bismarck College Foundation, President of the Lay Board at St Alexius Medical Center, and worked with SCORE, RSVP, and Big Brother. He and Delphia hosted the University of Mary Summertime Stampede for 25 years at their hobby ranch north of Bismarck. Roger was a member of the Bismarck Mounted Police and the DeMores Riders. He enjoyed his horses and was an avid skier. He rode the mules to the bottom of the Grand Canyon twice. He enjoyed playing gin rummy at the Elks and pinochle at the Senior Center. Following the death of his first wife, Del, Roger married BettyJo Zachmeier on June 17, 2007 and they enjoyed many wonderful trips together completing their 50th state with a cruise to Alaska. They especially enjoyed their two months in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico every winter where they went parasailing, and last year Roger completed his "bucket list" by going swimming with the dolphins. Roger is survived by his wife, BettyJo; his three children: Sharon Anderson, Terry (Jerry) Peterson, and Roger M. (Rita) Peet; his grandchildren, Kerry (Sarah) Woolley, Amy (Larry) Pederson, Drew Peterson, and Samantha Peterson; his 14 great grandchildren, Ellie (Joshua), Thomas, Brian, Maria, Nicholas, Matthew, Joseph, Sabrina, Ruth, Adam, Hezakiah, Nicole, Phoebe, and Emiley; and his sister-in-law, Jean Peet. Roger was preceded in death by his wife, Delphia; his parents Roger M. and Mary Peet; and brother, Robert Peet. In lieu of flowers, the family would prefer memorials to McCabe Methodist Church.