Ken Peterson

A Celebration of Life for Mr. Kenneth "Ken" Fred Peterson, age 76 of Cookeville, will be held Monday October 20 at 11 a.m. at Cookeville First Baptist Church. Interment will be in Pinckneyville Baptist Church Cemetery in Salem Kentucky at a later date. Dr. Larry Gilmore and Rev. Mike Head will officiate with eulogies by Lonnie Donaldson, Pete Helton, Dean Moore, and Marc Burnette. Mr. Peterson died Thursday morning October 16, 2014 in Cookeville Regional Medical Center. Ken was born June 22, 1938 in Chicago, Illinois to the late Kenneth and Evelyn Myer Peterson. He grew up in Chicago and excelled in basketball in high school, earning a basketball scholarship to attend DePaul University in Chicago. He played one year at DePaul and transferred to Murray State University where he continued collegiate basketball, lettering three years and earning a B.S. Degree in Business Administration. While at Murray he was a member of Sigma Chi Fraternity and other campus organizations. Also, he met and married his wife, Wanda Barnes Peterson. He signed a professional basketball contract and played one year for the Chicago Majors in the American Basketball Association. He then joined the all star team that toured Europe for ten weeks to play games against the Harlem Globetrotters. After returning to Chicago, he worked for a 7 years as an adjuster for Continental Insurance. In 1969, he was offered the opportunity to open the Underwriters Adjustment Company in Cookeville where he worked until 1994. He worked at Farmers Mutual Insurance until his retirement in 1998. He was a long-time member of Cookeville Jaycees and the Police Athletic Board, and coached Junior Pro Basketball for 10 years. and was a member of the Police Athletic Board. He was a well-known Senior Olympics basketball player whose teams won many State Championships and played in several National Tournaments. He played basketball on a regular basis until April of 2014. He was an avid golfer and loved playing with his church and senior golf groups. Although a loyal supporter of Murray State University, he loved Tennessee Tech Athletics and served on several search committees for new basketball coaches. Ken was a member of St Paul's Evangelical and Reformed Church of Chicago and has faithfully attended Cookeville First Baptist Church since 1969. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his sister, Louise Dierks, brother, Robert Peterson; and nephew, Michael Barnes. Survivors include his wife of 54 years, Wanda Barnes Peterson (whom he married August 20, 1960 in Chicago); daughter, Karen Peterson of Cookeville; brother-in-law, Gerald (Sandy) Barnes of Salem, KY and nephew Mark Barnes of Los Angeles, CA; sister-in-law, Sandy and niece Tiffany Peterson of Dallas, TX and Eric Peterson and family of Fort Leavenworth, KS; nephew, Kenneth Dierks and nieces Kris Clar and family and Kim Chung and family of Chicago. Mr. Peterson's family will receive friends Sunday from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m. at the Cookeville Chapel of Hooper- Huddleston & Horner Funeral Home and again Monday from 10 a.m. until service time at the church. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Cookeville First Baptist Church Benevolence Fund, 18 S Walnut St. ; Helping Hands of Putnam County, 421 E Broad Street; TTU Business Foundation, PO Box 5082 all of Cookeville, TN 38501; the Jimmy V Foundation 106 Towerview Ct, Cary, NC 27513 or a charity of your choice.