Covenant News

Service Held for Retired Missionary Elaine Peterson

WETASKIWIN, AB (May 18, 2004) - A funeral service was held today at Malmo Mission Covenant Church for retired Covenant missionary to Zaire (Congo) Elaine Peterson, 83, who died last Friday after suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

Peterson had been ill for an extended period, according to Covenant World Mission representatives. She had been injured in a fall and was hospitalized for a time before her death. Peterson's sister, Alice, had been her caregiver, said former Congo missionary Evangeline "Vangie" Dennis.

Born March 22, 1921, in Metiskow, Alberta, Peterson was a member of Malmo Mission Covenant and attended Covenant Bible Institute (now known as Covenant Bible College) at Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, and North Park Junior College in Chicago before earning a Bachelor of Arts degree from Seattle Pacific College in 1954.

In 1955, the native Canadian was called by the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) to teach at an elementary and high school for missionary children in Karawa that was operated in partnership with the Evangelical Free Church - she served for 32 years. At Ubangi Academy (known as UBAC), she taught elementary and high school-aged missionary children and was the school's principal for a short time. She wrote about her call to mission work in a 1958 autobiographical sketch, stating, "I have always been interested in missions and early in life told the Lord that if He called me into missionary work I would be willing to go . . . When he began laying Africa on my heart, I wasn't very enthusiastic because I would've rather gone somewhere else, (but) He kept making Africa more definite until I yielded and had a peace about it."

Along with her teaching prowess, Peterson participated in women's ministries of all kinds, using her skills in chalk drawing and singing as an outreach tool for village "Big Sunday" events and teaching Sunday school to both children and adults. She found another way to serve in the field, learning French and teaching that language to student nurses in order to help improve service at region hospitals.

Peterson also made her mark as a friend to others on the mission field as her hospitality blessed many. In a 1987 Covenant Church of Congo (CEUM) 50th anniversary booklet, colleague Harvey Widman wrote of Peterson, "The door to her house was always open to welcome people - whether missionary, student, African or anyone else. She was glad to talk and pray with them and always had a cup of coffee or tea to share."

Said former student David Oldberg, "We were young and foolish, full of life and poor choices, and she saw through it all and hoped only for the best. And we are better for it now. Earth is a better place because of her life . . ."

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