Jenna Peterson, 79, Altered Lives of Hundreds of Children

Date of story:  07/15/2072

Jenna Peterson, the founder of a thriving primary school in Honduras and a leader in the effort to make sure all families in Honduras had electricity, died at home on Sunday night at age 79 after a long history of heart complications.



Mrs. Peterson at age 17



Her death was confirmed by her husband of 54 years, Skylar Peterson.

From the very beginning of her adult life, Mrs. Peterson was not afraid to tell people her dream. “She would always come up with brilliant plans for her future and forget them a few months later,” said Alison Ramsley, Mrs. Peterson’s childhood friend. “So when she began to tell us she was going to start a school in a third-world country we all thought she was just off on another tangent.  Boy, did she prove us wrong.”

In 2020, at just 27 years old, Mrs. Peterson moved herself, her husband, and her young son, Liam, to Honduras to pursue her dream.  She was hired by Transitions Abroad to help manage an elementary school in Comayagua, the seventh largest city in Honduras.  Once established, she began to make major changes to the school, especially in the curriculum.  Mrs. Peterson worked side by side with the teachers and students to figure out the best way to accomplish the school’s goals.

The school improved markedly, but Mrs. Peterson was still not content with what she had accomplished.  She started a sister school in a more rural area so that it would be more easily accessible to students that lived outside of the city limits.  She contracted a bus to pick up students from their homes that were outside of walking distance so that they didn’t have to pay a bus fare.  Most families in the area knew who Mrs. Peterson was and why she was in Honduras; she was respected.

Jenna Brianne Long was born on April 23, 1993, to Christopher Long and the former Ona Ellingson in Littleton, Col. She was the third of four children.  Growing up, she liked to play by herself, but never rejected a playmate if one crossed her path.  In 2003, her mother, now divorced, moved the family to Buffalo Center, Iowa, where they lived for four years. After her mother remarried to Mr. Rory Knudtson, the family made a final move to Kiester, Minn.  Mrs. Peterson went to United South Central High School in Wells, Minn.  She was very involved with extracurricular activities such as yearbook, student government, band, tutoring and mentoring. She also worked as a lifeguard at the Wells community pool and worked as a student aide at The Shepherd’s Inn, an assisted living home.

Mrs. Peterson’s career was actually inspired by a two-week mission trip that she took in 2010 as a senior at United South Central High School in Wells, Minn.  The trip inspired her to major in business administration at Bemidji State University so that she would have the tools she needed to run a school in Honduras.  After five years, the young Mrs. Peterson graduated from the honor’s program offered at BSU with a bachelor of science in business administration.

The same year that she graduated college, Mr. Skylar Peterson asked for her hand in marriage.  They married on June 15, 2017.  The couple had five healthy children: Liam, Charolette, Wyatt, Oliver, and Chloe.

By 2026, her school had 170 students age 5-12 enrolled full time along with seven full-time staff; Mrs. Peterson was right in the middle of her biggest dream.  Her family, however, was struggling on the miniscule income and in the very unique culture of Honduras. In 2028, she finally admitted her family’s unhappiness and moved back to the United States, leaving her school and her students in the capable hands of Mr. Carlos Rico, her second-in-command.  “When Jenna left, I knew that it would be a struggle for the school to keep up morale and stay on track, but I also understood why she had to go.  Family always comes first. Looking back, it was a time of turmoil, but we survived and thrived even after she left,” Mr. Rico said of his companion and employer.

Even after returning to the states, Mrs. Peterson didn’t lose the determination to help the people of Honduras.  Once back in the U.S., she began to find investors to help her install solar panels at her school and at the homes of those who lived too far away from the city to get electricity.  The four-year project proved successful –the main investors of her project were GM and Shell.

Though she never got the chance to go back to Honduras, Mrs. Peterson continued to help the school and the people from afar both fiscally and by gaining American support. She spent the rest of her life on a small ranch in northern Minnesota.

Mrs. Peterson is survived by her husband; children, Liam (Mary) Peterson, Wyatt (Carrie) Peterson, Oliver (Hattie) Peterson, Charolette (Richard) Smith and Chloe (Daniel) Fisher and fifteen grandchildren.  She is preceded in death by her siblings Corey Roof, Megan (Roof) Graham and Connor Long; her mother and her step-father Rory Knudtson.