A legacy of curiosity

MOSES LAKE —There's a large, fluffed up bird perched on a pile of wood on Lorrayne and Larry Peterson's deck.

Lorrayne Peterson stands over the sink as she makes coffee for her visitor.

No ordinary bird would be so close to the house, she reasons. The animal must be sick. It makes her heart hurt.

Nature has been something surrounding Peterson all her life. Growing up, her father worked as heavy equipment operator in the Montana portion of Yellowstone National Park.

She recalled watching a group of coyotes bring down an antelope, a scene she often thinks about, even though it happened in her youth.

Even though it was nature taking its course, it's clear when Peterson speaks, her sympathies lie with the antelope.

Her early years were spent living in tents at the park, and moving to Death Valley during winter, where her father would work to build roads for tourists.

"My mother was the kind of person, and I've always appreciated her for it, if it was a sunny day, we would go to find the first pussy willows or something and all the dishes would be left in the sink," she said. "So I inherited that. She taught us a curiosity, and I did that with my kids, and I've seen it trickle down. Mother would be very gratified to know she left that legacy."

Peterson is well on her way to leaving her own legacy.

"I love to read, and if there's anything I've ever given my kids, it's their love of reading," she said. "It's too important."

Even as she worked on "all of the mom stuff" — Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Little League, etc., and worked as a dental assistant, Lorrayne worked very hard to promote literacy.

Peterson first moved to Ephrata at about the age of 15 during World War II, when all the parks were closed. Her father helped build Ephrata Air Base and the Moses Lake Air Base.

When the park re-opened, her family returned to Yellowstone, but she remained behind with new husband Larry, whom she met at Ephrata High School.

"Oh, he was cool," she said. "Back then the cool people were the ones who had their T-shirts and they'd roll their cigarettes (in their sleeves) and oh, he was something else."

The pair were both aged 19, at a time when the state's legal marriage age was 18 for girls and 21 for boys, so Larry's mother accompanied them to the courthouse when they got married.

They have been married for 60 years, moving to Moses Lake from Ephrata in 1951.

Peterson was part of a start-up literacy program to help people get their general education degrees.

"They had their first meeting at the library, they organized and I got to be president, and I was president forever," Peterson said with a laugh. "I finally burned out, literally."

In the program, she learned to write grants and, in her words, beg for money.

"One advantage I had was knowing so many people," she said. "I would just hit up anybody anywhere. One time we were at chamber and I saw a couple people who hadn't contributed, so I headed for them and I heard someone say, 'Hide your wallet, here comes Lorrayne.' And I ended up with a couple hundred dollars that evening."

But there wasn't the energy for the cause there is today, Peterson noted. The program had difficulty getting Caucasians to "come out of the closet" about being illiterate.

"What was happening at the time was computers were coming in, and it was flushing the non-readers out," she said. "Until that time they had such good coping mechanisms. My father was one of them, with functional illiteracy. He was offered a very good job, and his excuse (for not taking it) was, 'Oh, I like the mountains, I like to hunt, the smell of ink makes me sick,' and no one ever thought anything about it."

Many people had lived with functional illiteracy in those days, Peterson said.

"I love to read, and if there's anything I've ever given my kids, it's their love of reading," she said. "It's too important."

Peterson retired from the movement for health reasons, but she says she would still be involved were she able.

Last year, the Petersons participated in the Rotary club's literacy program in Guatemala, providing school books to students. The Guatemalan government does not support education beyond the sixth grade. Peterson called it the most wonderful experience of her life other than raising her three children.

During the trip, a Guatemala resident approached Peterson and thanked her for the books.

"Big tears were running down her face, and she was crying and she took my hands, she held them and kissed them when she first came up," Peterson said. "It was so emotional; she was crying, I was crying, we were hugging one another. Just for people to be that excited about a book."

Peterson plans to return to Guatemala in February.

"I just wish some of our students here could see the appreciation, the wonder of a book," she said.

'How many people get to pet a giraffe?'

Giraffes are abundant throughout Peterson's Moses Lake home — stuffed, ornamental and even a wire sculpture by artist Elizabeth Berrien her daughter had commissioned for her. She also collects Oriental antiques and collectible porcelains and bronzes.

"I didn't know I collected giraffes until one time I realized I had about 10 giraffes," she said.

Peterson sees great beauty in the animals when they run.

One time, she had an opportunity to visit the giraffes at a zoo in Seattle.

The giraffes would stick their heads through a fence to get through to her.

"Oh, it was so wonderful," she said, reliving her experience feeding bread to them. "Those big old beautiful purple tongues come wrapping around your hand and take the bread. I thought it would be slobbery like a dog, but it's leather."

Giraffes are able to eat vegetation off of thorn trees, which no other animals do, Peterson said, spitting the thorns out of the sides of their mouths.

"How many people get to pet a giraffe?" she asked. "I spent about two hours in there. I know I was there longer than they wanted me to be, but it was so wonderful to pet them, and those beautiful eyes. They have a grandeur I don't think other animals have. And they're very friendly, if you can get up to their level so they can see you."