Jon Hudson Peterson

Jon Hudson Peterson was born in Niles, Michigan on January 25, 1940 to Ruth and Vern Peterson. He passed away on September 26, 2013. He married Susan Patitucci at Sacred Heart Church at the University of Notre Dame (South Bend, Indiana) on July 7, 1962. Jon’s father was President of Michigan Mushroom Farm in Niles and sold mushrooms to Susan’s father who had a grocery store in South Bend before Jon and Susan were born. They first met when Jon was 9 and Susan was 7. They met again in 1961 at Diamond Lake, Cassopolis, Michigan and… the rest is history. He attended Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. He worked at various mushroom farms since the age of 16. He delivered mushrooms after school at his father’s California Mushroom Farm in Whittier. In 1974, he moved his family to Camarillo and worked at Del Norte Foods in Oxnard and in 1985 opened his own mushroom farm, Mushrooms Etc., in Camarillo. Jon was a founding member and the first president of the Topa Topa Flywheelers, an antique tractor club. He was a past board member of the Museum of Ventura County and instrumental in launching the new Agricultural Museum in Santa Paula. He spent many hours with his A-Team buddies restoring farm equipment and tractors for the Ag museum. He is survived by his wife Susan; their six children - Louis (Kathy), Peter, Jill Brittain (James), Michael, Eric, and Catherine; and their eight grandchildren - JD, Nicholas, Erica, Sarah, Megan, Zachary, Haden, and Walker. He is also survived by his sister Jane Mooneyham (Cassopolis, Michigan); sister-in-law Michele Daugherty (South Bend, Indiana) along with many nieces, nephews, family and friends. Services will be held at 10:00 am at Saint Julie Billiart Catholic Church located at 2475 Borchard Road, Newbury Park on Saturday, October 5th. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his name to the Agricultural Museum located at 926 Railroad Avenue, Santa Paula, CA 93060 or to a charity of your choice.