Obituary of Mardell Jeanette Petersen

Mardell “Mardy” Jeanette Petersen 92 passed away peacefully on October 25, 2018 with her daughter Judy Petersen by her side in Prior Lake, Minnesota. She had been living with her daughter Judy and her husband Larry for 2 years and 2 months. She was born to the late Edwin and Irene Skaar on June 15, 1926 in Minneapolis Minnesota. Mardell graduated from Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis. She was married to Milton Petersen on June 15, 1946. They lived in Richfield Minnesota for 14 years before they moved to Burnsville, MN were they had a 57 acre hobby farm, which was the love of both of their lives and lived there for 21 years. They had horses, chickens, cats, dogs and dad always wanted goats but mom said no… Mardell is survived by her husband Milton Petersen Sr, Milton Petersen Jr. (son) Judy Petersen (daughter) and husband Larry Ellestad, Step children Aaron Ellestad and his wife Kate, Ashley Kostuch and her husband AJ Kostuch. Milton and Mardell had their own landscaping business for 38 years and she was the bookkeeper. I often said mom should have gone into the guinness book of records as she started bookkeeping even on their honeymoon as she wrote down every penny they spent. Mardell even kept the notebook she wrote on their honeymoon to this day, she was a born bookkeeper. She had a love for baking and cooking and hosting the holiday and birthday parties, she thought nothing of cooking for 30 or 40 people. When she was a kid her dad would take her fishing and she always loved it, many a trips when we were young would be going to Lake kabetogama to rent a cabin and go fishing. One trip to kabetogama there was only one fish caught and she got it was a 6 pound 13 inch walleye that she was so proud that she could feed the family a meal that night. They have been retired for over 35 years, with most of those years they would go to Florida for a couple months and enjoy the warm weather. They loved their trips and were blessed to have many of them, they would get in the car and travel 700 miles in one day, they loved being in the car. Larry my husband and I would often refer to them as the road warriors. Her family was the most important thing in her life, she wanted to spend every minute with her family. We have been blessed to have such a loving and caring mom, she supported us in everything we did. That special place in our hearts will be forever yours mom we love you so much. Our service for Mardell will be held on November10th at 11:00 am at Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis at the Mausoleum building. After the celebration of Mardell’s life a luncheon will be held in the adjacent building next door. Any donations are left to the discretion of the donor.