Lillian Hruda Peterson passed away peacefully on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2013, age 90, in Ridgefield, CT. She is survived by five children, Barbara Hruda of Newark, DE, Lawrence Peterson of Las Vegas, NV, Eric Peterson of Evanston, IL, Stephen Peterson of Newark, DE and Carla Kahlbaugh of Danbury, CT, as well as grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Born in Chicago, IL to Joseph Hruda and Lillian Houdek Hruda, Lillian graduated from the University of Illinois in 1945 with a Master of Science in Chemistry. Her thesis, "The Synthesis of Pyrrolizidines," was important to the war effort as an intermediate step in the synthesis of anti-malarials, and was published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society in 1947. She worked as an organic research chemist for the Armour Research Foundation in Chicago from 1945 to 1951. She married in 1948 to Richard Allen Peterson and divorced in 1978. After raising her children, she returned to full-time work as a high school mathematics and computer science teacher at Delcastle Vocational-Technical High School from 1971 to 1990. Lillian was active in the founding of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Newark, DE and volunteered for many years at the Hockessin branch of the New Castle County library. A quilter, lover of music, member of Great Books, and life-long learner, above all Lillian's children were her greatest joy.