Kenyon Attorney To Retire from Active Practice after 59 Years

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Franklin Peterson was born on a farm near Braham, Minnesota and graduated from High School there. He enrolled in Augsburg College and his football coach suggested that he join the International Guard. He was later called up to the Air Force for eighteen months.

He returned to school at St. Cloud State and then enrolled in William Mitchell Law School in St. Paul.

In 1963 Frank came to Kenyon, Minnesota looking for a small town to practice law. There he took over the law firm of Ray Wahlberg and spent nearly sixty years as an attorney in town. In the early years he was associated with Steve Jorstad in Wanamingo.

Frank liked the people of Kenyon. “They are hardworking people and pay their bills”, he commented. The town saw good growth with lots of development like apartments and Foldcraft, during the 60’s and 70’s. Frank recalls when Harold Nielsen came to Kenyon around 1970 with a vision to build his business here, and how impressed he was with Harold’s intelligence and integrity.

He focused mainly on general practice, real estate law, wills and income tax.  He also served as city attorney for about twenty years beginning in the 1970’s.  One of the highlights of his practice was a special assessments case that was contested all the way to the Minnesota Supreme Court, where he won the case.

Frank and Beverly raised three children who graduated from Kenyon high school and all still live in the area. Beverly passed away in 2015. He plans to golf and enjoy watching his seven grandchildren grow up.

Frank considers one of the highlights of his life to be his work with the Shriners organization. He has been able to travel to a lot of places for meetings and participate in about twenty parades each summer. There are eighteen parade units in the lower third of the state and all are very active in events and raising money each summer. Frank has entertained as a Shriner Clown to bring laughs and happiness to many youngsters attending parades. The Shriners have built an event center in Mendota and a new medical clinic in Woodbury that is devoted to out-patient children’s care. The Shriners raise over $800 million each year and support twenty-two hospitals in the United States and Canada and one in Mexico. They have treated over one million kids in the last thirty years.