Liliane Louise Petersen

Liliane Bozzalla was born in Grenoble in 1925. She was orphaned at age 5 and raised by her Aunt Jeanne on a small subsistence farm in the Alps of France. Life was hard but they managed with the help of the extended family. Liliane was smart and her aunt was able to send her to Catholic boarding schools for her education. In 1940, at the age of 15, her aunt became paralyzed and she spent 6 months nursing her alone, isolated by distance, the cold winter and the Nazi occupation of France. Her aunt passed away 6 months later and Liliane, emancipated at age 15, faced the rest of World War 2 on her own. Unbeknownst to Liliane at that time, she had partial Jewish heritage and so she was fortunate to have survived the war. She took the money her aunt had left her and used it to continue her education. Upon graduation, she worked for a tourist resort on the beautiful Lac D’Annecy. She decided to go work in England to learn English, first as a ladies’ companion, then as a nanny, and finally as a student in a secretarial school. On returning to France, she worked at TWA on the Champs Elysée in Paris where she heard of an American Company advertising hefty salaries for bilingual secretaries. She was hired and moved to Casablanca, Morocco where she met her the love of her life, Frederick K. Petersen of Brooklyn, New York. They married in 1952, and their children Diane and Fred were both born there. Liliane and Frederick lived all over the world (Morocco, Iran, Indonesia, Mexico, Australia) and finally moved to the US when Diane was 15 in order to provide a stable home and education for Diane and Fred in their high school years. Once they were off to college though, Liliane and Frederick returned to their adventurous lives and moved to Zaire where Liliane was the administrative assistant to the Project Manager of a huge development project. They finally retired to River Edge, New Jersey and Liliane proudly became an American. After Frederick died in 1993, Liliane moved to Green Valley, Arizona where she built a rich life for herself, surrounding herself with wonderful and supportive friends. Each summer she would travel back to her small home in France where the rich memories of childhood were rekindled. Her family was blessed by the stories she told of her youth. They made their visits there come alive! At age 90, Liliane moved to Mount Vernon, Washington in order to be closer to her children. But she continued to winter in her Arizona home and summer in her beloved old farm in the Alps. She continued to manage three homes right up until April of this year when she took a tragic fall. She lived a remarkable life, a strong independent and vibrant woman through and through. We will miss her so much! She leaves behind her daughter Diane Staves, son Fred Petersen, 5 married grandchildren (Jason and Aarti Petersen, Jordan and Amber Petersen, Matthew and Adriana Staves, Jennifer and Rishi Mandal, Kelly and Nick Guy), and 8 greatgrandchildren. In lieu of flowers, leave a story or a favorite memory you have of her in the online Guestbook. We will compile these in a book to remember her by.

Liliane Louise Petersen

July 16, 1925 - July 28, 2021