Obituary

Mary Clare Van Iderstine Petersen, beloved mother, grandmother and pillar of her family, passed away peacefully on January 11, 2025, at her Rancho Santa Margarita home, surrounded by her loving family. She was 92 years old.

Mary was born in Montclair, New Jersey on May 21, 1932, to Anna Dorathea Harr Van Iderstine (1895-1989) and Raymond Garrett Van Iderstine (1887-1934). Mary was the youngest of three children – brother, Robert, and sister, Doris. She grew up in New Jersey during the Great Depression, an experience that shaped her lifelong values of hard work, frugality, and compassion.

Mary graduated second in her class from Glen Ridge High School in 1950. She was awarded the Citizen Cup which was the highest honor the school can bestow on a student. She was also awarded the Home and School Scholarship Prize, the Alumni Prize for English and Spanish and a College Women’s Club of Montclair Scholarship as well as the prize offered by the Disabled American Veterans of Bloomfield and Glen Ridge for best essay. Mary then attended Montclair State Teacher’s College. She taught 3rd, 4th, 7th, and 11th grades in New Jersey. In the early 1960s, Mary and her husband, Ken, moved to Santa Monica, California where Mary earned her CA Early Childhood Education Teaching Credential and taught nursery school in the mornings so she could be home for her children after their school day.

When Mary was sixteen, she met and fell in love with her lifelong love, Kenneth Edgar Petersen, in the basement of a department store where she prepared hand-written price tags and Ken painted store windowfronts for the holidays. During the Korean War, Ken enlisted in the Air Force. When told he would soon be sent to Europe, they decided to get married prior to his deployment. The couple married in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, on December 27, 1952. Ken’s transfer orders to Europe never materialized. That was a big relief for them both. After four years of courtship and sixty-three years of marriage, Ken passed away in 2016.

Mary spent her later years doing what she loved best – watching Reilly play volleyball and Dane, Chase, and Brock play water polo. Her four grandchildren remember her cheering quite loudly, if not obnoxiously, at their many tournaments. Grammie was not shy in correcting the referees’ calls if she thought they were wrong. What were the refs going to do – toss Grandma out??

At Park Terrace, she lived for the time she could spend playing games with her friends – Rummikub, Hand and Foot, Bingo, and Poker (which games she continually won to the chagrin of her competitors); participating in activities – bible study, exercise classes, art classes; and attending happy hour, historical reenactment presentations, concerts, and most important of all, chapel services.

In her later years, Mary was known for her incredible generosity. She loved remembering and delivering birthday and holiday cards to her Park Terrace neighbors, knitting blankets for newborns and winter scarves for the troops, and was always ready to help a neighbor in need. Up until the end, Mary was an inspiration to all who knew and loved her.

Mary was an avid sports fan. The Dodgers were “her team!” She worshipped Mookie Betts. Mary was lucky enough to see them win the 2024 World Series. Tiger Campbell and Jaime Jaquez, Jr. were among her favorite UCLA Bruin basketball players.

Mary was a devoted wife, mother, and grandmother. Mary was preceded in death by her beloved husband, Kenneth, Sr., and is survived by her daughter, Krysten, and her family – son-in-law, Walter Brennan, Jr. and granddaughter, Reilly and Reilly’s new husband, Alex Anderson; and by her son, Kenneth Jr. and his family – daughter-in-law, Pamela, and grandsons, Dane, Chase and Brock.

Mary’s life was a testament to the power of unyielding faith, love, resilience, and family. She will be deeply missed and forever remembered.