Edith Marjorie McMurrick was born on February 20th 1927 in Port Orchard, WA. to William and Augusta McMurrick.  She was the youngest of 4 children: Ethel - 96 lives in Florence AZ.  George - 93 lives in Florence AZ.  Robert 92 lives in Oakridge, OR.

The family lived in Washington for the next few years, but then returned to North Dakota to help care for Williams parents.  Marjorie spent the rest of her youth in the Bismarck area, graduating from Bismarck high school in 1945. That fall, she went to attend bible school in Denver, Colorado, with her friend, Marietta Stewart.

She met Raymond Peterson at a church youth event, during the winter of  '45-'46, and, after she survived a serious bout of scarlet fever, they were married.  July 3rd, 1946, they exchanged vows in the living room of Ray's moms home, with their friend Rev. Art Barr officiating.

After WWII ended, and her brothers returned from their stint in the Navy, they decided to head to Oregon, where jobs were available, working in the woods as timber fallers.  Her brother Bob had married her friend, Marietta, and settled near Albany while he worked clearing trees near Mary's peak. Their correspondence, describing the many available jobs, made the decision to go to Oregon much easier.  They settled into a small apartment in Albany, and Ray quickly found work in a lumber mill on Hill street.  Marjorie found work in a local cannery, and together they saved and scraped until they could afford a down payment on a "fixer-upper" house on Alco street.  During this time, they also helped Marjorie's parents relocate to the Albany area, after her dad could no longer work the farm in North Dakota.

After 10 years of marriage, they had almost concluded that they wouldn't be able to have children, when God decided otherwise, and in 1957, they welcomed Linda into the world.  Around the same time, Ray changed employment, taking a job with the American Plywood Association, as a quality-control supervisor.  The job paid a little more, and was much safer than the sawmill, however it also required that they relocate to Northern California.  They moved to the Fortuna-Eureka area for the next few years, while Ray worked that territory, and as is often the case during that stage of life, they met several young married families at church, and forged friendships that have lasted a lifetime.  In 1960, Ray was transferred back to the Willamette valley where they settled, for the next 37 years, in the NE Eugene area.  In 1961, they welcomed daughter Nancy, and in 1963, a son Larry was born.