Our mother was born on February 2, 1926 to Adolph and Ruby Schulz and passed December 3, 2018 at the age of 92.
After growing up on the family farm near Medford, Oregon she graduated from Prospect High School in 1944. In 1946, she completed nurses training at Good Samaritan Hospital in Portland and received additional surgical training in Berkeley, California where she worked as a nurse at Alta Bates Hospital. There she met and married Sgt. Gilbert Peterson in 1948. They were transferred first to Panama, where she worked as a librarian on the military bases, and then to Colorado Springs. Their last transfer was to California: Travis AFB. The family lived briefly in Suisun and the Birds Landing area. In 1961 they bought a house in Fairfield where Nedra lived for the next 51 years. After raising six children, she returned to nursing at Kaiser Hospital in Vallejo. While working at Kaiser, she also attended Solano Community College, received a Bachelor’s Degree from Holy Names University, a Masters Degree from Chapman College and a Lamaze Instructor Certification
Nedra Tillie (Schulz) Peterson
from the University of California, San Francisco. After 32 years with Kaiser, she retired as the Supervising Nurse of Obstetrics/Labor/Delivery. In her spare time from 1972 to 1995 she taught Lamaze birthing techniques to thousands of expectant parents through Kaiser Hospital, David Grant Hospital and Solano Community College.
Nedra was preceded in death by her parents, Adolph and Ruby Schulz, her husband, and her sister Ruby Pleasant. She is survived by her sister Rose Debra Gale, her brother Bert Nelson, her six children, Kenneth (Diane Crow), Nancy (Randy) Hilliard, Michael (Susan Ward), Eric, Pamela (Gary) Desjardins, and Marsha Jill, fifteen grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildren (with two more on the way) and one great-great-grandchild.
In her retirement years, she enjoyed traveling, gardening and get-togethers with the Wednesday Club and Geranium City Club in Fairfield. Her family is grateful for the care and skill provided by VictorPaz Farmhouse board and care in her final days.
A private memorial will take place in the Jacksonville, Oregon Historic Cemetery where she will be laid to rest with her father and other relatives.