Phyllis Evelyn Peterson Gosmire

December 21, 1918 – January 3, 2020

Phyllis Gosmire died on January 3, 2020, after a brief illness. She had recently celebrated her 101st birthday.

Phyllis was born to Albert and Ruth Peterson at their home south of Meriden, Iowa, because of the overcrowding of area hospitals due to the Spanish influenza pandemic.  She had one younger sister, Mary Louise Peterson.

Her family moved to a farm north of Larrabee, Iowa, when she was two, and it was there she grew up, attending the Larrabee schools. She graduated high school in 1936 before attending the University of Iowa, where she earned her BS degree and became a registered nurse in 1941.  After graduation, she taught nursing arts at the University of Iowa Hospitals in Iowa City.  She later worked in both Sioux City, Iowa, and Sioux Falls, South Dakota, supervising nursing candidates.

In 1943, her sister Mary Louise was diagnosed with lupus, and Phyllis moved home to help care for her. After Mary Louise died October 24, 1944, Phyllis pursued a master's degree in nursing at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.  It was there she met Ralph Edward Gosmire on a river boat dance cruise for graduate students on the Mississippi River.  Phyllis and Ralph were married October 11, 1947, in the Little Brown Church in the Vail, Nashua, Iowa.

The couple lived in Postville and Thompson, Iowa, before moving to Fort Dodge in the fall of 1953. Their daughter RuthAnn was born in April 1953, and their son Carl Edward was born in May 1957.  Phyllis's husband Ralph died in an auto accident on February 28, 1968, after which she moved the family to Cherokee.

Phyllis was a member of the Bethlehem Lutheran Church since 1920. She was active in church women's organizations, University Women, the American Scandinavian Society, and Bible study groups.  She enjoyed the needle arts, loved to cook, and took great pleasure from her flowers, the birds that visited her feeders, and nature in general.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Albert and Ruth Peterson, her husband Ralph Gosmire, and her sister Mary Louise Peterson.

She is survived by her daughter RuthAnn (Jeffrey) Royer of Ames, Iowa, her son Carl Gosmire of Cherokee, Iowa, and two grandchildren, Christian Royer of Fukuoka, Japan, and Caisa Royer of Salt Lake City, Utah.  She also is survived by first cousins Birgitta Ekelius of Orebro, Sweden, and Sven Petersson of Trelleborg, Sweden, and first cousins once removed Ann (Brad) Coburn of Marcus, Iowa, Lynn (Rocky) Fontana of Minneapolis, Minnesota, Mike (Lori) Rae of Gilbert, Arizona, and Max Rae of San Diego, California.

Funeral services will be held on Thursday, January 9 ^th , at 10:30 a.m. at the Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Cherokee, Iowa. Pastor Jean Morse will officiate. Burial will be in the Oak Hill Cemetery at Cherokee, Iowa. There will be a family prayer service at 10:15 a.m. at the church on Thursday. Visitation will be on Wednesday from 2 p.m. until 7 p.m. with the family present from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. at the Boothby Funeral Home in Cherokee, Iowa. Online condolences can be left at www.boothbyfuneral.com