Toshie Petersen

After a remarkable and adventurous life, Toshie Matsumoto Petersen of Long Beach, Washington died on Monday, August 13, 2018. Born in Yokohama, Japan on February 17, 1938, she was the youngest girl in a family of five children. Her father owned a silk dyeing factory in Yokohama and after the war was enrolled in a Baptist Missionary school. After completing her formal education, she then went on to receive training in the traditional Japanese arts of flower arrangement and tea ceremony.

She met her husband, Robert “Bob” Carl Petersen on a train in Yokohama – the story goes that she was having trouble with her window and he offered to help. Bob was working in Japan for the States Steamship Shipping Company at the time. After their engagement, Bob left Japan to start a new business in Grenada, W.I. Nearly a year later, Toshie left Japan for the first time to meet Bob in Grenada to get married. They spent the next 7 years in Grenada managing Grenada Yacht Services before moving back to the Pacific Northwest and the Long Beach Peninsula in 1970. 

She enjoyed a variety of activities, ranging from membership a local quilting club in Ocean Park to participating in the tai chi group at the Peninsula Senior Center. She also spent years being a tireless chauffeur for all of her daughter’s activities. Toshie was always a gracious and creative host and had a knack for finding just the right gift for someone’s birthday or Christmas.

In their retirement, Bob and Toshie enjoyed traveling to see friends and to visit many national and state parks. With Bob’s help, she was able to stay in their home until a couple of years ago.

Toshie is survived by her husband, Bob, and her daughter and son-in-law, Yumi Petersen Hanson, and Mark Hanson of Sammamish, Washington.

A memorial gathering will be held on Sunday, September 16th  from 2 – 4 p.m. at the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum in Ilwaco, WA.  In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions be made in her memory to the South Pacific Humane Society (http://beachpets.com/).  Her guestbook is available at www.penttilaschapel.com.