PETERSON, Kenneth Berry - Montgomery InGenWeb Project

This great man was born in Alamo, Indiana to Dr. Charles Peterson and Hannah (Duckworth) on the 24th day of 1891 passing in Tucson Arizona on January 24, 1953 (not 1952 as Wikipedia has).  According to the Arizona Daily Star on Jan. 25th of that year he had been ill for some time but died following a heart attack.  He was mainly raised in Tahlequah, Oklahoma and graduated from the U of O in 1913 being admitted to the Oklahoma Bar after graduating from the University two years thereafter. (The Arizona Daily Star 20 Oct 1922 p 8 notes that he received his first education in Ann Arbor, Michigan received the law degree from U of O).    An interesting experience began for him on April 8, 1917 when he enlisted in the US Army, seeing quite a bit of action in the First Army’s 335th machine gun battalion for 18 months, having earned 1st Lt. in record time.    One of the first big cases he served as defense lawyer for William S. Estaver charged with 1st degree murder in Pima County in 1922.  He served as his county (Pima) attorney and in 1928 was elected Attorney General of Arizona, the first Democrat from his county to do so.  Since 1932 and at his death, Peterson was the assistant US District Attorney for the Tucson area.  His affiliations were with the Odd Fellows, BPOE, K of P and Phi Alpha Delta, the legal fraternity at the U of A.  Also, he enjoyed his time as a Layman in the First Presbyterian Church.  He married late in life (March 1941) to Dorothy Baldauf and she was the mother of three children.  He was a beloved brother and uncle also having lost two brothers (John Norwood and Dwight Alexander) previous to his own passing.  Sadly, there is no headstone at Tucson’s Evergreen Memorial Park.   - kbz