Gene L. Petersen

Gene L. Petersen of Lincoln, NE, passed away in the comfort of his home, surrounded by loved ones on May 5, 2024. He had been diagnosed with ALS in April of 2024, and the disease was devastatingly and mercifully fast moving. Gene had never wanted to spend his last years of life in a nursing home or wasting away with a long illness, and his family is at peace knowing he was able to stay at home until the end of his life.

Gene was born on November 13^th, 1954 in Fremont Nebraska, to John and Beulah (Larsen) Petersen.  He attended Fremont High School and graduated in 1973, attended Midland College, majoring in science, and earned his Master’s Degree from Kansas State in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in 1979.

In 1986 he took a job for his brother Chris’s company, Integrated Marketing Solutions, and he acted as a one-man IT department until his retirement in 2021. After retirement, he remained a loving and patient IT aficionado for his friends and family.

Gene was an astonishingly brilliant man, with a mind that seemed programmed to retain information like a computer. When he picked up photography as a hobby, that hobby quickly turned into a bit of an obsession as his camera and lens collection grew to mountainous size. The natural world being his favorite subject to shoot, Gene’s pictures often rivaled those seen on the covers of National Geographic magazines, particularly those of birds and water fowl.

Taking a hike with the man was a wondrous thing – as he meandered along a path, his fellow hikers could point to nearly any green thing growing and he’d know not only the common name, but the scientific name, whether or not it was native to the area, and whether or not it was edible. He so enjoyed being an administrator of a Facebook group that specialized in native plants of the Midwest. He was often tagged in posts to be the final say in debates over identification. He took great pride in cultivating a sizeable prairie in the back half of an acreage he resided on for many years and would spend many evenings walking the property line, “surveying his kingdom”.

Though to a stranger he may have come across as shy or even stoic, to those who knew him best he was a big ole’ goof. As his kids were growing, he would read them books in the best theatrical voices. He had special (and ridiculous) nicknames for each of his children, and often some of their friends. He was a fan of sci-fi media, particularly the Patrick Stewart era of Star Trek. He enjoyed watching NBA Basketball. His family has many fond memories of camping and exploring on various family vacations, far off the beaten path.

He is survived by his wife, Patricia (Snell) Petersen; brother, Chris (Marilyn) Petersen; children: John (Amanda) Petersen, Jessica Petersen, Taylor (Shade) Murphy, Nathan (Lisa) Petersen, and Bethany (David) Fast; grandchildren: Kaleah, Cloey, Lily, Isabella, Sayge, Brayden, Rhaevyn, Sullivan, Alden, Oren, and Wylder; nieces: Crystal (Brian) Johnson, Autumn Petersen, and Danielle (Chris) Christman; and beloved great nieces and nephews. He will also be missed by his sisters-in-law, Mary Frerichs and Betty Northup, with whom he shared many lovely memories. He had many friends and was especially fond of the friends he met through a shared enthusiasm for native plants.

He is preceded in death by his parents.

A private family memorial service will be held at a later date. The thought of flowers or cards that will eventually go to a landfill being purchased in his honor would have given the man a heart attack, so to honor Gene’s wishes, please direct memorials to The Nebraska Statewide Arboretum at plantnebraska.org

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