A CHANCES
City of Mayor and Council Offices
Santa Clara Memorandum
The Center of What's Possible
Date March 10, 2026
To: Mayor and Council
From: Mayor & Council Office
Subject: Adjournment of the March 10, 2026, Council & Authorities Concurrent Meeting Adjournment
To be read by Councilmember Karen Hardy
Please adjourn the March 10, 2026, meeting in memory of Marilyn Jo Petersen. • Marilyn Jo Petersen of Santa Clara passed away on February 7, 2026. • A native of Red Cloud, Nebraska, Marilyn grew up and went to school in Red Cloud, graduating from Red Cloud High School in a class of 17 students. The family home was a four-room brick house built in 1865 with an outhouse, and outside pump, and a lean-to kitchen.
Marilyn loved to stay busy and enjoyed many activities in Red Cloud. She was in the Rainbow girls, had a pen pal from Norway, and was in many plays, even winning an award for third best actress. She was very artistic and did the drawings and artwork for her Red Cloud High School yearbooks.
• After graduation, she then went to University of Nebraska-Lincoln, graduating with a BS in nursing from University of Nebraska college of medicine. • After nursing school, Marilyn worked as an RN at Veterans Hospital in Omaha, where she met her future husband, Charles Petersen.
• Marilyn and Chuck were married in Red Cloud, and moved to Omaha, where their three children were born. Soon after the birth of their third child, they packed up the family and moved to Santa Clara, CA where Chuck accepted a job as a San Jose policeman. • Chuck and Marilyn lived on a cul-de-sac in Santa Clara and hosted many events with all their neighbors. They grew many fruits and vegetables in their new climate, and went on many camping trips, and back packing up into the Sierras and Marble Mountain Wilderness.
POST MEETING MATERIAL