Mrs. Joe Ann Petersen, 75, passed away Tuesday, July 31, 2012, at a nursing home in Gainesville, Ga., of complications due to Alzheimer’s. Born in Maysville, Ky., on Oct. 19, 1936, she was a daughter of the late Irene Arabella Russell Slack and Charles Gordon Slack. Her parents were divorced when she was 10 years old and her mother Irene married Robert King Bryson and they raised her through her schooling years. A 1954 graduate of Holy Rosary Catholic High School in Columbus, Ohio, she worked as a telephone operator for Ohio Bell for seven years. On June 28, 1958, Joe married Peter Lee Petersen at the Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Columbus, Ohio. A devoted wife and wonderful mother of six children, she was an avid reader of mystery novels, master solver of crossword puzzles and fan of the LosAngeles Dodgers and the Green Bay Packers. She loved to travel and had theopportunity to immerse herself into different cultures by living and traveling overseas. She and herfamily lived in Germany for four years and in Israel one year as her husband worked in many countries as a consultant on various Military projects. While living in Israel, she bowled on the International Embassy team for the United States. She also lived in Sanford, Fla., (six years) and the Naval Test Air Station Patuxent River, Md., (one year) in support of the Navy’s A3J/RA-5C aircraft wives’ activities. She also spent five years at Fort Walton Beach, Fla., (Eglin AFB) supporting Air Force/Rockwell International programs. In 53 years she moved 18 times with her husband and six children, always looking ahead to the next assignment. In 1983, she moved from Columbus, Ohio, to Duluth, Ga., (her husband’s last assignment) and lived there for 13 years before they both retired to Fort Walton Beach, Fla., in 1996. In 2005 they moved back to Georgia settling in Winder. Joe is survived by her loving husband of 53 years, Peter Petersen andtheir six children; daughter Rebecca Petersen Bradley and her husband Joseph of Homestead, Fla.; son Peter Petersen, his wife Rosalie and their children Peter and Kyle of Cincinnati, Ohio; daughter Wendy Petersen Donaldson,herhusband Jeff and their children Jeremy and Justin of Winder; daughter Noelle Petersen Margeson, her husband Henryand daughter Carrie Jane Sparks of Atlanta; son Matthew Petersen, his wife Allison and their son Cooper of Mableton; son Christopher Petersen, his wife Kathleen and their children Daphne and Jude of Surprise, Ariz.; sister, Billie Bryson Gerber, her husband Denny and their children Stephen and Michael of Naples, Fla., and sister Robin Bryson Charles, her husband Keith and son Ryan Daye of Columbus, Ohio. A Mass will be conducted by Father Leo C. Holleran at 8 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 4, at St. Matthew Catholic Church, located at 25 Wilkins Road in Winder (770-867-4876; saintmatthewcc.org). In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Joe’s memory to: The Alzheimer’s Association, Metro Atlanta Regional Office, Georgia Chapter, 41 Perimeter Center E, Ste. 550, Atlanta, GA, 30346. The family will receive friends on Friday, Aug. 3, 2012,from 6-9 p.m. at the Lawson Funeral Home, 35 First St., Hoschton, GA, 30548, 706-654-0966,www.lawsonfuneralhome.org.