Charles O. “Chuck” Peterson

He was born April 25, 1923, in Lottsville, Pa., a son of the late Melvin and Edith Johnson Peterson.

He graduated from Lottsville School. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1943 and served aboard a destroyer escort in the Atlantic Theatre until after D-Day. He was transferred to the Pacific Theatre where he served until the end of the war. his ship was hit by a Kamikaze plane that broke his gun tub from the side of the ship. it hung over the water, with him strapped in, until the battle was over and he was rescued.

Chuck was a farmer all his life. After selling his big farm, where he had a large dairy operation, he moved to a smaller farm and raised Holstein heifers until he retired at the age of 94. he baled hay for the last time when he was 93 years old.

Chuck also worked other jobs while raising heifers, drilling oil and water wells, as a school bus driver for Southwestern Central schools, for the town of Busti Highway Department and as a self-employed carpenter. He was a man of many talents and a hard worker. “Any job worth doing is worth doing right” was a favorite saying.

Surviving are his wife Joan Bennett Peterson; two daughters: Shirley (Jim) Hibbitts and Linda (Scott Gustafson) Pierce; two sons Melvin (Diana) Peterson and Toby (Kristen) Pierce; seven grandchildren: Tiffany (Justin) Joyner, Mick Peterson, Hannah and Maggie Pierce, Alexander (Danielle) Pierce and Raymond Pierce and Joshua Burrell; three great- grandchildren: Jordyn and Jaxton Joyner and Andrew Horvath; a brother, John (Mary) Peterson; a sister Vivian (Ray) Moon; and several nieces and nephews.

Besides his parents, he was preceded in death by a daughter, Charlotte Peterson; a son, Michael Pierce; a grandson, Eric Hricko; and four sisters: Lucille Stewart, Lois Stewart, Helen Faust and Ruthann Peterson.

Friends will be received from 4-7 p.m. Thursday in the Lind Funeral Home.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Friday in the funeral home.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Chautauqua Hospice and Palliative Care, 20 W. Fairmount Avenue, Lakewood, NY 14750, the home of “Charlie’s Angels.”

You may leave words of condolence at www.lind funeral home.com.