Peter Ridgway

Jordan

Peter Ridgway Jordan

Peter Jordan was born in Short Hills, New Jersey, on January 21, 1942, to Nancy Pritchett and Francis Stanley Jordan. He met Margot Peters, his wife of forty years, through the dating organization Single Booklovers. As apparently the only member who had read more than the swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated, he appealed to Margot and they were married in 1981 at the Wisconsin State Capitol by Judge Shirley Abrahamson.

Because Margot was a tenured professor at the University of Wisconsin- Whitewater, whereas Peter made his living by private investing, he moved to Lake Mills, a town of which—after the shock of leaving the New York area subsided— he became quite fond. Margot's daughter Claire at first misunderstood his occupation, thinking he was a "private investigator." He was that, also.

One of Peter's occupations was collecting books published before 1800, a collection he has since bequeathed to Grinnell College. A passion he shared with Margot was searching out antique corkscrews; they have a large collection. They both adored the five beautiful and gentle collies who shared their lives, throughout the years, loved canoeing and white-water rafting on the Wolf and Peshtigo Rivers, and exploring by car England, Scotland, Ireland, and France. Peter was a life member of Mensa and the Royal Oak Foundation, and the author of Holding the Fort, an account of a husband's domestic travails during his wife's travels. A devotee of our lake, Peter was given the 2021 Rock Lake Stewardship award for his donation to the Wisconsin Land Trust of eleven acres and 400-foot lake frontage on the north end.

Peter is survived by his wife, Margot Peters, a brother Noel Valere Jordan, daughter Kirsten Rector and her sons Christian and Ethan, daughter Lotus Child, nephews Jeffrey and Benedict Gerard, and by his step-children Marc Peters and Claire Peters, and Violet Cradock, the granddaughter he adored.

A rare spirit has walked among us.

Thank you to Rainbow Hospice for their excellent care.

If desired, memorials may be made to Rainbow Hospice Care.

www.claussenfuneralhome.com