Portland, Ore. — Gloria Peterson passed away on March 3rd, she was 89 years old.

Wife of Tom Peterson, the two owned and operated retail stores in the Portland area for more than 30 years.

Son-In-Law Robert Condon sent KXL a written statement:

Gloria was a very kind, and wonderful woman. We used to talk for hours on end, and she called me her communication “buddy” as we would talk every day. She sang in the New Hope choir. When Tom went bankrupt,  Gloria cried for a week when the creditor cashed in her Boeing stock as a “personal guarantee” on the business. She cried because her Mother had owned that stock for years, and left it to Gloria as an inheritance. Gloria knew how hard her Mother had worked to accumulate the growth on that Equity/ Security. When we started the new business under my dba she always chimed in at the company Christmas party and spoke to lift up the employees….Her famous saying was “do your want to soar like an eagle, or dive like a buzzard” 

She had breast cancer about 15 years ago, and then had a cancer of her spine just a few years ago, for which she had radiation therapy. I took her to all of her appts. and she laughed it off, like it wasn’t going to be a bother. We would go out and have lunch, and her favorite mid day drink was a Manhattan. I have very fond memories of Tom, Glor, and of course Kathy, their daughter & my wife of 25 years.

Tom Peterson passed away in 2016.  Kathy Peterson-Condon passed away in May of 2018 of breast cancer.

No funeral arrangements have been made public.