Quinton Victor Peterson

Quinton Victor Peterson, of Wyoming, MN, died peacefully on June 30, 2024. He lived a long and full life. He was a devoted son to his parents Harry and Millie, helping them in the Lake Netta general store they owned with his aunt and uncle, Helen and Clarence Benson. In their early years, he and his sister Juliet shared a home with their cousins, the “Benson girls.” 

He was a serviceman during World War II. He enlisted at age 17 and entered the army after he graduated from Anoka High School and was old enough for the service. He served as a radar mechanic in the Army Air Corps until 1946, when he was honorably discharged as a sergeant.  

He was a loving husband to his wife of 76 years, Marjorie (Holm) Peterson. They met dancing at the Melody ballroom in Forest Lake and married in 1948. They built a house at Boot Lake in 1958 and lived there for 64 years.  

He was a supportive father to his four children, helping with their education or career goals, making regular winter road trips to Arizona and Texas with Marjorie to visit their daughters, and going on regular fishing and hunting trips or playing golf with his sons. He was a caring grandfather, always interested in his grandchildren’s activities and often attending their sporting events.  

He was a successful businessman, selling John Deere farm implements and general merchandise at the Lake Netta store after the war. He persuaded his Dad and uncle Clarence to expand and become the Benson & Peterson Oldsmobile dealership, moving the business to Forest Lake in 1948. He bought the business, added a Moto Ski snowmobile franchise, and continued working with his Dad and long-term employees until he sold the dealership and retired in 1985. 

He was a community leader, serving as President of the Forest Lake Area Chamber of Commerce, a member and chairman of the Forest Lake School District school board, and a director and two-time President of the Forest Hills Golf Club.  

He was an athlete and avid outdoorsman. He played in the Twin Cities Suburban Baseball League for the Soderville “Outlaws,” which won the Minnesota Class B championship in 1947, 1951 and 1952. He also played hockey for Anoka/White Bear, which was a co-champion of the Minnesota Amateur Hockey Association one year. His sports participation dwindled as he and Marjorie had more children, but he continued to make regular deer hunting trips up North with his Dad, then his son Greg, and other friends and relatives, semi-annual trips to Canada for fishing, and regular ice fishing trips to Lake Mille Lacs. He went duck hunting and pheasant hunting closer to home and also raced snowmobiles for a time. 

In his 30’s he took up golf, which became a lifelong passion. He was a founding member of Forest Hills and helped with the design and finance of its second nine holes. He required all his children to learn the game, enjoyed annual golf outings with his family at Superior National in Lutsen, and loved watching the next generations take up the game. He was especially proud that he shot a hole-in-one, shot his age twice, and won a Northwest Father & Son golf tournament with his son Tim. 

He was a gatherer of lifelong friends. In retirement he organized many trips with his golfing buddies, most of whom were younger than him, and outlasted them into the evening hours. He outlasted most of his friends in life too. He was 98. 

A celebration of life will be held at 5:00 pm on Wednesday, July 10, at Mattson Funeral Home, 343 N. Shore Dr., Forest Lake, MN 55025. Visitation at Mattson starting at 4:00 pm.