Obituary of Gordon E. Peterson II

Gordon E. Peterson II of Farmers Branch, Texas, passed away on October 31, 2022. He was 71. Gordon touched many lives and will be dearly missed by his loving family, dear friends, and all his warm community connections. Gordon is survived by his partner of many years Clayton Jackson; his sisters Tori Graham (and her husband Mike) and Bobbie Colwell (and her husband Rich); his nieces and nephews Katrina Colwell Arp (and her husband Karl), Robert Colwell, Diana Stoney (and her husband Andrew), and Bradley Colwell; and his grand-nephews and grand-niece Freddie, Tilly, and Jonah Stoney; as well as numerous extended family members.

Gordon was born and raised in Orland Park, Illinois. He graduated from Carl Sandberg High School in 1969 and very much enjoyed attending his 50-year reunion recently. Gordon then studied Computer Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His love for technology and computing was life-long. Among his proudest professional achievements was working with the San Antonio Datapoint team that invented the local area network, allowing for the kinds of interconnected systems we all rely on today. He could typically be found with a camera in hand, whether it was a suitcase-sized video camera in the 1980s or his latest pocket-sized digital camera.

Among Gordon’s great passions in life was travel. He spent nearly ten years living in France and was delighted to recently share his memories there with Clayton. Gordon was an avid fan of cruises and had an encyclopedic knowledge of the various lines, their routes, and all the very best options for any type of trip you could dream of taking. He took at least 70 cruises over the years, and was planning several more before his passing. When he was home in Texas, Gordon was a staunch supporter of local politics and served as a Democratic precinct chair and a delegate to the state convention on multiple occasions. Anyone who knew him would not be surprised to hear Gordon was involved in the beard-growing community and participated in many contests over the years. He was also a fan of the live performance community, and could be frequently found attending Broadway shows, local theater events, comedy shows, at festivals both locally and across the country, and occasionally on stage or on film himself!

Gordon was one-of-a-kind. Brilliant, inquisitive, and a strong believer in the power of grass-roots work on any number of personal and political projects – but always willing to embrace the fun side of life, whether that be 100s of trips to the local amusement park or sneaking the kids of the family out for frozen custard instead of running errands. His presence in all our lives will be sorely missed.

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