Gus Peterson

CANYON CITY – The Whiskey Gulch Gang has announced that Gus Peterson of Monument will lead the annual ’62 Days parade on Saturday, June 7, as grand marshal.

Peterson, born March 24, 1922, in Ione, has a history of community involvement in the region.

His father was 16 months old when his grandparents immigrated to this country from Sweden in 1888. In 1929, his parents brought Gus and a younger sister to Monument, where they bought a ranch.

In grade school, Peterson mostly walked the five miles to school, but sometimes rode a horse. Not caring for horses that much, he walked and took his chances on catching a ride part-way to school or on the way home.

He graduated from high school in 1940 in a class of five. Four of the class are still living.

He worked on the family ranch and later went to a welding school for two months through the Oregon Department of Vocational Education. He then went to work in the Oregon Ship shipyard where Liberty ships were being constructed on a 24/7 schedule. After six months of being employed as a welder, he received his draft notice but was deferred for two years to work on the ranch after his father was injured in a fall.

The ranch was sold in 1944 and he went in the Army. By January 1945 he was an infantry mechanic at Fort Benning, Ga. He clearly recalls the celebration when the first atomic bomb was dropped. Everyone hoped the war would soon be over for they were scheduled for the invasion of mainland Japan.

Peterson was on the first stateside boatload of troops to occupy Japan, and he served for a year in a Signal Corp motor pool that put up military and civilian phone lines. Gus was discharged and made it home for Thanksgiving in 1947.

He bought a 1939 Chevrolet and came to John Day where a girlfriend and job at John Day Motor Company awaited. Gus married Ruth Scott in 1948. While in John Day he joined the John Day fire department as a volunteer fireman, starting many years of community service.

In 1954 the couple moved to Monument to operate Ruth’s parent’s ranch. In 1956 he became fleet mechanic for Columbia Power Co-op, retiring in 1986. Along with his duties as welder and mechanic at the Co-op, Peterson was the Monument fire chief for 25 years.

The Petersons raised three sons: Roy, Ture “Pete” and Lonnie. They have four granddaughters.

Peterson has always liked things mechanical and began connecting and restoring old hit-and-miss gas engines in the early 1970s. He joined the National Early Days Gas Engine and Tractor Association. He has served on the national board of directors for 11 years and attended 23 national shows.

He also was a charter member of the Grant County Sheriff’s Posse, and was deeply involved in the Northside Ambulance service which started out with a vehicle in Long Creek.

Gus and his wife enjoy going to senior meals and have attended most Senior Center’s in Eastern and Central Oregon. He enjoys visiting with people. Asked for an observation on what he likes about the country life, Gus replied, “Being away from the city. I don’t mind going back, but would sure hate to live there.”