Neale "Pete" Petersen

Neale Duane "Pete" Petersen, 90, of Oshkosh, passed away early Wednesday morning, April 15, 2026, at the Sidney Regional Medical Center.

A rosary service will begin at 10:30 am Monday, April 20, 2026 with a Mass of Christian Burial to immediately follow at St. Elizabeth's Catholic Church in Oshkosh. Services will conclude at the church.

Visitation will be held one hour prior to the services at the church.

Holechek-Bondegard Funeral Home and Cremations in Oshkosh is serving the Petersen family.

Pete was born on March 19, 1936, in Bloomington, Nebraska to Neale A. and Ruth (Koelmel) Petersen. During Pete’s early years, the family relocated to Ogallala, Nebraska, where his father took part in building and later maintaining Kingsley Dam on Lake McConaughy.

Pete attended Ogallala High School and graduated with the Class of ’54. A couple of years after high school, Pete enlisted in the Army where he was stationed in Germany for part of that time in an armored tank division.

Pete married RoseMary Reiselman in August of 1962, and together they raised two children, Jay and Theresa. In the beginning, Pete was self-employed as a Sportsman, doing the sort of things he truly enjoyed: fishing, hunting, and trapping mink and beaver in the mountains of Colorado with his best friend, Ivan Armstrong.

After their adventures in Colorado, Ivan became the Keith County (Ogallala) Sheriff, and appointed Pete as his deputy sheriff. In 1965, Pete went to work for Consumers Public Power, which later became known as Nebraska Public Power. In 1972, Pete was transferred, and he and his family moved to Oshkosh where he continued work for NPPD as a lineman and area manager until retiring in 1995 after 30 years of service. After retirement, Pete went back to doing what he loved most; he fished, then fished some more and golfed. He spent many hours at Lake Mac, but when winter set in and the weather turned really cold, and those sandhill lakes froze over, you could find him ice fishing, and that is where he was truly happiest.

Pete was blessed with four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, and they were the apples of his eyes. They had him wrapped around his little finger and the word “No” never entered his vocabulary when they asked him for anything. He loved taking them ice fishing, hunting, playing cards, and watching them in sports.

Pete was always quick to volunteer and help out in the community in any way he could. He was a member of St. Elizabeth’s Catholic Church and well respected in his community. Pete had many friends and will be sorely missed by them.

Pete was preceded in death by his mom and dad; mother and father in-law, Edith and Ben Reiselman; sisters Donna and Carolyn ,and brother Steve, as well as five brothers-in-law, five sisters-in-law, one nephew, and two nieces.

Those left to cherish the memories made with him are his children, Jay and Stacie (Lundgren) Petersen and Theresa and Russell McVay; Grandchildren Kaleb McVay, Parker McVay, Shawn McVay, and Morgan (Petersen) Alvarado; Great-Grandchildren Payton Padilla, Brenton Alvarado, and Isabella Alvarado; very special friends and honorary Grandchildren, Kevin and Deeann Coss, and their children, Tate, Cole, Ty, and Natalie Coss; brothers and spouses Ron and Trudy Petersen, Bill and Karen Petersen; and sister Connie and Gil Dunne; as well as numerous nieces and nephews.