Moses Lake port commissioner dead at 80

GRANT COUNTY - Grant County residents and leaders are mourning a man they say leaves a giant void in the community with his passing.

Port of Moses Lake Commissioner Larry Peterson died Wednesday morning at McKay Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Soap Lake at the age of 80.

He is survived by wife Lorrayne, whom he married Nov. 2, 1947. They have three children, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Arrangements are in care of Kayser's Chapel and Crematory in Moses Lake.

In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting donations be made to the Larry and Lorrayne Peterson Nurse's Scholarship at Big Bend Community College.

Born in Ephrata in 1928, Peterson's extensive community involvement includes the Grant County Public Utilities District, the Housing Authority of Grant County, the Big Bend Community College Foundation, the Grant County Economic Development Council, iFiber Communications Corporation, Moses Lake Rotary Club and the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Columbia Basin.

Several Columbia Basin leaders spoke of their feelings toward Peterson and shared their memories.

Col. Clyde Owen said he got "very well acquainted" with Peterson and his wife about 25 years ago when he and his wife moved across the street from them.

"And we were great friends from then on out," Owen said. "He was real sharp, had a real good outlook on life. He was a great problem solver. He was interested in everything. He showed a deep interest in life and the community."

Owen and Peterson first got acquainted in their capacities as base commander of Larson Air Force Base and local manager of the PUD, Owen said.

"He was a great guy, a real deep and thoughtful thinker," he said. "He always had sound advice. He was a great listener. He had a way about him - he could resolve problems and bring people together, a very unique ability. He could express himself very eloquently and get the point across. Never had problems with people, would never argue, just was a great negotiator."

Port of Moses Lake Commissioner Delone Krueger said Peterson was a mentor.

"At times he was like a father," Krueger said. "He was certainly a co-commissioner on the Port of Moses Lake, an equal, someone who I respected and certainly learned a lot from in the time we served together on the commission."

Outside of the Port, Krueger also knew Peterson as a fellow Rotarian in the Moses Lake Rotary Club for many years.

Peterson was a great supporter to the Rotary Foundation and a major contributor to the foundation's activities with his wife, Krueger noted.

"He was interested in his community, the people and what would benefit them in their own personal lives," Krueger said. "He made a lot of sacrifices to participate in organizations that worked toward economic development, humanitarian projects and educational projects. It's so early to sit and think about it, there's so many things he did. He was just a great, great individual I'm going to miss immensely."

Port Commissioner Mike Conley, who joined the port district in January, first became acquainted with Peterson while serving as a commissioner on the PUD.

Peterson's background with the PUD helped Conley understand, as a non-PUD employee, some of the utility's history, which Conley found valuable.

"He has been a really active person in this community all his life, and he's going to be missed a lot," Conley said.

Kent Jones worked alongside Peterson on the port district for nine years until December 2007, but they had both been involved in the community for many years.

"I've known and respected him for years," Jones said. "Larry was one of these people that was extremely helpful to me, while always focused on the goals. He understood the people and the people's situations and how they affected where we wanted to go. While he did lots and lots of wonderful things for the community, he was just a good person."

Grant County EDC Executive Director Terry Brewer said Peterson was one of the community leaders to help form the council in 1990 and was a charter board member. After some time away, Peterson was asked to return to the board and was serving as an elected board member of the council at the time of his death.

"A very strong supporter not only of the organization and economic development in general for our community and our county," Brewer said. "He was a great mentor for me."

When Brewer arrived in Grant County from Indiana 11 years ago, he and Peterson shared a common background as former employees of an electric utility.

"So we became friends very quickly, but most of our time spent was discussing economic development and how to improve things with regard to his port district commissioner's position," Brewer said. "Larry was committed as an EDC board member to help improve our economy countywide, looking at all sectors and saying, 'What do we need to do better? What do we need to do that we're not doing at all?'"

Brewer said Peterson was a great friend and supporter.

"I, for one, will truly miss him," Brewer said. "Larry did a lot of work - I don't think he sat at home, reading the newspaper, watching the tube, too many days. He was an active person throughout his retirement years. He was very involved and most of it was basically volunteer work to help improve the community and peoples' lives where he lived. I'm saddened by his passing and I know he leaves a big void wherever he was. The things he did were very measurable and meaningful, and it will just be up to the rest of us to step up and begin to fill that void."

Moses Lake Mayor Ron Covey first met Peterson when his daughter won the Miss Moses Lake pageant. Covey's sister was Miss Moses Lake the following year, and both women went on to become Miss Washingtons in consecutive years.

"When I think of Larry Peterson, I think of a dedicated, hard-working visionary respected by his peers," Covey said. "He was just a man people enjoyed being around. I will always remember his smile. To be in Larry's company, it was impossible not to have some of that positive energy kind of rub off on you. You always felt better just being in the same room with him. He was that kind of a man and that kind of a personality."

Peterson was a dedicated individual toward Moses Lake and Grant County's efforts on behalf of power, development and culture, Covey added.

"He was a leader," he said. "He could take a task and he could find a way to solve the problem. It was definitely an inspiration to work with Larry."

Housing Authority of Grant County Executive Director John Poling is also Peterson's son-in-law.

"Larry had been a commissioner with the housing authority since Nov. 1, 1973," Poling said. "His commitment and contributions in the housing authority was pretty astounding. We have no other commissioners who have served for that length of time, and he was a very active commissioner, very involved in taking the housing authority from the small agency it was back in 1973 to the agency it is today."

Peterson was very involved in purchasing the housing of Larson Air Force Base for the housing authority, Owen and Poling said.

"Larry was a wonderful person, very dedicated to Moses Lake and Grant County," Poling said. "He was very dedicated to the prosperity of this county."

Because of Peterson's contributions to the housing authority, the PUD, the Port of Moses Lake, the economic development council and the community college, Poling said, "there's really nobody that I'm aware of to take his place."

PUD General Manager Tim Culbertson issued a statement regarding Peterson.

"Many at Grant PUD, myself included, are deeply saddened by the death of Larry Peterson," Culbertson stated. " Not only did Larry Peterson work at Grant PUD for a number of years and retired as manager in 1982, but he continued to be actively involved in the community, with Grant PUD and their customers. Larry's contributions and his presence will be greatly missed. Our thoughts are with Larry's family and his many friends and colleagues who will be touched by this news."

Rep. Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, also issued a statement regarding Peterson.

"My heart goes out to the Peterson family, especially to his wife of 60 years, Lorrayne," she stated. "My family has always been close to the Petersons - their son was even in our wedding. Larry will be sorely missed."

Peterson was the kind of person every community needs, Warnick added.

"He was involved in several capacities of local government over the years, and was a real asset to Grant County and to the state," she stated. "The Petersons' charity work throughout the years made an impression on me and reminds me that people such as Larry are important for every community."

Grant County Commissioner LeRoy Allison called Peterson "a dynamic force" in the area.

"He was always looking for improvements that would benefit the citizens in the area, and I think that's what drove him to get on the economic development council, be a major player there, be a major player with the Port of Moses Lake for a number of years, working on numerous projects," Allison said.

Peterson was very open and capable of working with multiple subjects and issues at one time, Allison added.

"What I saw was his heart for the service to benefit the people," he said.

Community college President Bill Bonaudi said Peterson and his wife were leaders in philanthropic activity for the school.

"They were the models of generosity and civic responsibility," Bonaudi said. "We will miss his spirit and drive."

The Peterson Gallery in the community college's ATEC Building is named for Peterson's aunt and uncle, Eric and Catherine Peterson.

"Larry and Lorrayne were instrumental in working with the family to become the first major donors to the ATEC project," Bonaudi explained. "It was a way to recognize these pioneers of the Moses Lake community."

Peterson was always available and able to lend perspective to a challenge or a problem to help Bonaudi understand the community and a situation better, he said.

"He was a leader and a citizen in the best sense of the words," Bonaudi said.

Doug Sly, executive director of the Big Bend Community College Foundation, said Peterson was a board member and chairman of the Farm and Property Committee.

"He was tireless," Sly said. "I would see him at a meeting at 7 a.m., and then see him at a banquet at 7 p.m., and it would go until 9:30 p.m. He was involved in so many things and he was always there."

A memorial for Peterson adorns the wall at the college displaying appreciation for a lifetime gift of $100,000 or more. Another one marks the memory of Peterson's aunt and uncle, Sly said, from when Peterson and his family raised another gift or roughly more than $100,000.

"From my perspective, Larry understood living-wage jobs and education had to go together, went hand in hand," Sly said. "So he supported the foundation and the college. I imagine Larry raised twice that amount for ATEC and other foundation projects, because when he gave, he could go out and ask other folks - it wasn't like he hadn't already put some money down. He had vision."

Peterson was a native of the area, Sly noted.

"So he was like a living encyclopedia of Grant County, the public power movement, involved with the port and the housing authority," he said. "There's a lot of people around here that don't know Larry that owe their jobs to his economic development efforts over the last 30 years."