George E. Peterson Collection
Collection
Identifier: MS-288
Overview
This collection contains information on Charles Peterson and his wife Harriet May
Robison. It includes materials from Central Junior High, Ogden High School, Weber
College, and Peterson’s personal and political career. The collection was donated by
their daughter Joan Fisher in 2006. Copies of Central Jr. High’s Blue and Gold, Ogden
High’s Classicum and Weber College Acorn Crumbs were removed from the collection
and cataloged in Archives and Special Collections, in memory of Charles Peterson.
Dates
- 1914 - 2002
Biographical / Historical
Charles Eric "Chuck" Peterson was born June 4, 1914 in North Ogden, Utah, the son of
Charles Eric Peterson and Dora Ann Brown, and raised in Ogden, Utah by his
grandfather, Charles Alma Peterson after the death of his father. Chuck later graduated
from Weber State College and the University of Chicago.
Charles married Harriet May Robison October 4, 1935 in Chicago, Illinois, later
solemnized in the Salt Lake Temple. Chuck's greatest love was for his family. Their
children are Charles Eric "Charlie", Ida Joan, Kent Davis, and Steven James.
A member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints all his life, Chuck served as
high counselor, bishop, stake president, President of the Chicago South Mission, and
home teacher.
Chuck loved political life and served his community and state in many positions. Six
governors appointed him to various committees and leadership positions. He served five
years on the Coordinating Counsel for Higher Education and as Vice Chair for ten years
on the Board of Regents as well as on the Utah Highway Patrol Commission. Chuck
served six years in the State House of Representatives, two years as Majority Leader and
two years as Speaker of the House, and eight years in the State Senate and was a delegate
almost every year of his life in Utah to the Republican State Convention.
He was President of the Provo Junior Chamber of Commerce in 1950 and then manager
of the Provo Chamber of Commerce in 1959; Chairman of the Board for Utah Valley
Hospital; Walker Bank Board of Advisors and on the Board of Directors for State
Savings and Loan from 1965 to 1980; chairman of the Utah Automobile Dealers
Association in 1967 and the Volkswagen Dealers Council in 1973. Chuck also served on
the National Parks Council of The Boy Scouts of America, was a member of the Provo
Kiwanis for 50 years, and former Kiwanis President.
Chuck Peterson has received numerous awards of recognition and he would say that he
never deserved these awards. As owner of "Chuck Peterson's Motors", a Volkswagen
dealership in Provo, Utah for 24 years, he received the 1973 TIME "Quality Dealer
Award," and was made a member of the Utah Auto Dealers Hall of Fame in 1995. Chuck
was named Provo's "Mr. Free Enterprise" in 1974, received the Brigham Young
University Abraham O. Smoot Public Service Award in 1978, and the Utah County
Council of Governments Citizen of the Year Award, 1978. He also received an Honorary
Alumni Award from BYU in 1977; the Weber College Presidential Citation in 1980;
Utah Valley State College Honorary Degree, 1983; BYU Presidential Citation, 1995, and
was a founding member and former president of the BYU Cougar Club.
Chuck at age 87, died at home January 14, 2002 from lung failure due to pneumonia.
Extent
6 Boxes
Arrangement
Box 1 Certificates-Miscellaneous
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
Repository Details
Part of the WSU Stewart Library Special Collections Repository