Phyllis Georgea Swedberg was born July 24, 1930, in Wheaton, MInnesota, as the youngest of three daughters to Felix and Esther Swedberg. She married Delpho P. Peterson of Hallock, Minnesota, at Gustavus Adolphus Lutheran Church in Wheaton on August 12, 1950, and together Phyllis and Delpho raised seven children and opened their Dayton, Iowa, home to a foster daughter and two foreign exchange students before moving to Keokuk, Iowa. Phyllis died in Bradenton, Florida, on March 12, 2003, after a three-year battle with pancreatic cancer — surrounded by Delpho and her children, as she entered into her eternal heavenly reward with Jesus.