Cynthia “Cindy” Davis Peterson

OBITUARY

Cynthia Davis Peterson was born on March 16th, 1931, an only child of Ruth Murrell and Ira Comer Atchley. Due to her father’s business as a traveling salesman, the family didn’t establish roots until she was thirteen years old. Her father then built a small home in Berkley, California and for the first time in her life, she knew real stability where she could have long-term friends and feel a true sense of belonging.

After finishing high school, she attended UC Berkley and graduated with a BA in Speech with a minor in Psychology. She also received a teaching credential for Elementary School.

In 1952, during her senior year at UC Berkley, she met Paul Peterson. It wasn’t long before they were in love. She had an engagement ring on Valentine’s Day and they were married on June 27th, 1953. Paul then entered law school and Cindy began teaching first grade.

They both wanted a large family and three years later Daniel was born. A few months later, they moved to San Diego and settled in a house in Claremont before moving to La Jolla in 1962 where she gave birth to three more children, Andrew, Matthew and James, each twenty-one months apart.

Cindy accepted Christ as her savior in 1949 at the First United Presbyterian Church in Oakland and has been a member of the Presbyterian Church ever since. For the last 63 years she has been a faithful member at La Jolla Presbyterian church. During that entire time, she was a member of the chancel choir.

Over the next 20 years, raising four boys was not an easy task. At one point she had an infant, a two-year old, a four-year old, and a six-year old, each with very different needs. In her journal, she often wrote about the high energy level of her boys. Without a doubt, her Christian faith played a major role raising her family. She truly loved being a mother and wouldn’t have changed a thing.

Cindy pursued many interests during her life. She worked as a “pink lady” at Scripps Memorial Hospital in both the ER and pediatric ward. She volunteered as a teacher’s aide at Schweitzer School for Handicapped Children, started an interior design business, and worked as a salesperson at Bower’s Jewelers. More amazingly, she became an EMT and San Diego Police on-duty reserve officer.

A few years later, Cindy became active with the La Jolla Stage Company and served as the president of the Starlight Society. Around this same time, her faith revealed a vision of something spectacular, and it became one of her most cherished accomplishments. She envisioned an Easter Sunrise Service held at the Starlight Bowl in Balboa Park. She then organized a committee of seven local churches, each of which would take turns hosting the sunrise services. The offerings collected during the services would be given to the San Diego Rescue Mission to help with feeding, housing, clothing, and counseling the city’s growing homeless population. In its second year, the sunrise service moved to the Spreckels Organ Pavilion. Last year, with Cindy being the driving force and organizer, her dream reached an incredible milestone of 40 Easter Sunrise Services, with total donations to the Rescue Mission exceeding $210,000. And her dream lives on, the 41st Easter Sunrise Service will take place in a few short weeks.

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In 2007, Cindy moved into White Sands in La Jolla thinking she could relax and “take it easy.” It didn’t take long for her generous nature to shine again. Within months of arriving, she was asked (recruited really) if she’d be willing to be the next Chapel Committee Chair. After thoughtful prayer, she accepted and immediately went to work, organizing the Christmas Program as well as the Sandpiper Singers. The first Christmas Program was performed in 2008 with “Twelve Days of Christmas” being added in 2009, complete with props. When the White Sands Chapel needed renovation, Cindy chaired the committee and found sixty generous residents and others who donated over $104,000 to keep the chapel going.

Cindy went to heaven on Tuesday March 10, 2026, just 6 days before her 95th birthday. She lived a full and rewarding life with her faith, family, and friends. She now walks hand-in-hand with Jesus who has already made her a Chair of a worthy committee in heaven!

In closing she wants everyone who loved her to know the following:

“Do not grieve for me. Remember our joyful times together. I am now in paradise with God and His Son. I await peacefully with the promised assurance of a new restored, transformed, and resurrected body to forever live on God’s recreated Earth. I will recognize and be recognized by my family and by all who believe in Jesus the Christ who love him as I eternally do. We will be together again.”

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In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the San Diego Rescue Mission and/or The La Jolla Presbyterian Church.

Cindy’s celebration of life will be hosted at the La Jolla Presbyterian Church on Saturday, March 21st at 10:00am