PETERSEN, Jimmie L.

West Valley View, Avondale, Arizona, Friday, February 01, 2013 Jimmie L. Petersen, 77, of Tonopah died Jan. 21, 2013, from cancer at Odyssey Hospice in Peoria. Mr. Petersen was born May 31, 1935, in Racine, Wis., to Helen and Jim Petersen. He moved to Arizona in 2003. He joined the Navy at age 17 to become a nuclear submarine operator. In 1960, he met his wife, Margarita. After leaving the Navy in 1973 as a chief petty officer, he became a saltwater fishing captain of his own boat. In 1975, he went to work as ranch foreman for Turner Farms. Several years afterward, he moved to Greenland to work with satellites and later as a quality assurance contractor for Ford Aerospace in Tonopah, Nev. In 1986, he taught English to the electrical engineers for the Saudi Royal Air Force. When the contract was complete, he became a quality control inspector for another contract. He was a member of the Elks Lodge. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Margarita; and one granddaughter. He is survived by his wife, Celia Petersen; two daughters, Nancy Norwood and Patricia Crews; one niece, Melinda Buhl of O'Fallon, Ill.; two sisters, Charlene Sedig of Buckeye and Judith Lidburg of Cambridge, Mass.; three grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. Services will be at 2 p.m. Feb. 5 at Grace Fellowship Church, 1300 N. Miller Road in Buckeye. The Rev. Mike Johnson will officiate. Memorials can be made to Bales Hay Sales, 20600 W. Beloat Road, Buckeye, AZ 85326.