Hedvig Catherine Petersen

Hedvig Catherine Petersen was born 19 August 1896 in Castle Dale, Emery County, Utah to Jasper Peter Petersen and Johannah Diantha Rasmussen, the same year that Utah became a state. She was the third child of the family. Not much is known to me of her early life. Uncle Hector, her brother, remembers her for her kind, patient ways. Following are the words of Hector in a letter written to his niece, Vera May Behling (Warren).
I first remember her about the time she was carrying a doll. I had one like it as I remember until one day I got mad and mashed it's head on a low fence in front of the house in Castle Dale. Your mother was there at the time as I remember. I must have been about two years old.
Next I remember her when she had typhoid fever (walking typhoid they called it). She was very weak and not able to go down the cellar steps. I can recall seeing her walking around in the kitchen. My next recollection was when she had a severe bleeding from her nose and was hanging onto the clothes line north of the house in order to stand up. She was very pale and weak and I was very worried. I remember someone applied cold wet rags to her neck and head. I think she had a number of these bleeding spells.
I don't remember anymore until about the time your father came to live with us to work on the Emery Stake Building located where the church is now. What I thought of that romance must of been what any 15 year old boy thought about such things. I recall vaguely a little about the wedding but not much. And then they moved to Ferron where we went to visit a few times and got acquainted with the Behling family. Also we visited with them when they lived in Rochester and up near the highway in Ferron. By this time I was also married and your family had started to increase. Then came the move to Castle Dale and you probably know more than I do about that.
The thing I remember about your mother was her gentle disposition in contrast to some of the rest of our family. Some times I was irked by her slowness but later I have admired her for this trait. She was kind to all and gentle with her family with very good results. I never heard her scold or shout but she had complete control of the children. I suppose we had our small fights when we were kids but I don't recall any.