Maria Teresa (Rascon) Peterson

Maria Teresa Peterson

Maria Teresa Peterson (Rascon) passed away in Galt, California, on January 14, 2023 at the age of 74. Her friends knew her as Tere and her family as Grandmacita. She will be missed greatly. Tere was born in the town of Cananea in the Mexican state of Sonora on October 15, 1948, to Irma Beatriz Rascon Coronado and Benjamin Garcia Solano. At the age of 16, she traveled to the United States to continue high school with host families in Nevada and then Idaho. In 1968, she married her eternal companion, Faris Jay Peterson, in the Salt Lake City, Utah, temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Shortly thereafter, Faris and Tere started a family and were ultimately blessed with four daughters over the next few years. In 1973, Tere and the rest of the family moved from Utah to California where she would live for the rest of her life. A few years after moving to California, she began working at Tracy High School as a teacher’s assistant. At the high school, she worked for over three decades in a special education classroom helping her students develop life skills and learn about the world. She was a gifted and patient teacher and loved her students and enjoyed seeing them grow, learn and graduate. Tere also had a passion for learning and continued her education by taking evening classes at Delta College. She enjoyed all of her classes except maybe math. In addition to her work as a teacher, she was a faithful and dedicated member of her church. Over the years, she volunteered countless hours serving the
members of her congregation and those of other faiths in many different capacities including relief society counselor, ward missionary and primary. In 2013, she and her husband Jay served a two-year proselyting mission in Des Moines, Iowa. In Des Moines, she worked alongside the members there serving, teaching and supporting the other missionaries. The mission was one of the best experiences of her life. Tere was an animal lover and had many pets over the years including parakeets, cats and Scotty dogs. She enjoyed spending time with family, cooking
tamales during Christmas and reading her scriptures. She was also a 49ers fan and loved quarterbacks Joe Montana and Steve Young. Tere is survived by her devoted and loving husband of 54 years, Jay, her four children: Xanne, Michelle (Darren), Natalie (Douglas) and Katherine (Roger), her siblings, Sonia Edmiston, Rosa Maria Luken, Alba Romero, and Manuel Oscar Luken, her eighteen grandchildren and many other relatives in Mexico.

Family, friends and those wishing to pay their respects are invited to attend a
Memorial Service held at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1981
Chester Drive, Tracy, CA 95376, on Thursday, January 26, 2023 at 11:30 a.m.

A private graveside service will follow.

Funeral services are being handled by
Zapata Funeral Home in Stockton, California.

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