Members You Need to Meet
Bob and Cate Peterson
April, 2011
Bob and Cate Peterson stay busier than ants in a breadbox. On any given day, you can find Cate teaching at New Operation Cooper Street while Bob is immersed in work with FGCU. They are career educators, learners and doers.
Bob grew up in Kansas City, MO, worked for Swift & Company and sold shoes while in college. After serving in the army, he went on to complete his masters degree. He became a professor at Kent State University, ran a consulting company and traveled extensively in his work. Bob is a Six Sigma expert, which involves teaching business management strategies to corporations and organizations.
Cate was born in Anadarko, OK but grew up in Ohio where she taught high school home economics, switching to math after receiving her certification. Their paths crossed at Kent State where Cate took a position as a project specialist, later becoming Director of Student Services at a satellite campus.
Bob was the first to come to Punta Gorda, when he and a boating buddy read about it in Motor Boating and Sailing magazine, purchasing an investment condo in 1997. After Cate and Bob married, they bought a lot, built a home in 2003 and settled in. From that point on, their community involvement soared.
They joined TEAM Punta Gorda in the early days and worked hard on its affordable housing committee. “We formed the Hibiscus Housing Trust, a non-profit entity, to build houses that could be occupied by teachers, firemen and other civil service workers,” Bob said. After building one house themselves to prove it could be done, the housing market went south and the project ended.
Cate started volunteering at Cooper Street in the RugRat room, grades K-1, and later was hired to help students in grades 2-5 with remedial math. Her other interests include gardening and she successfully completed the Master Gardener program and achieved that designation.
Bob took a position with IMPAC University as Director of Non-Credit Courses which involved traveling to Viet Nam, Thailand and Indonesia teaching entrepreneurship, process involvement and quality in manufacturing.
Together they enjoy diving, which led them to become involved with REEF [Reef Environmental Education Foundation] in 2004. “It totally changed the way we dive,” Cate remarked. “As a group of divers, we do fish counts – counting the number of species and abundance of fish in a given area.” The counts help research organizations determine the overall health of the area. The Petersons have participated in counts from the Keys, Little Cayman Island, the Caribbean, Cozumel and all the way to Hawaii.
Their personal travels included a special trip to India to witness the wedding of their adopted daughter. “One of Bob’s former students adopted us as her American parents, and we adopted her as our daughter,” Cate explained. They attended the engagement party, toured the Jaipur region, then returned to Negpur for the wedding. “We saw a traditional Hindu wedding, the Taj Mahal and more.”
The Petersons belong to TEAM Punta Gorda, PGICA, where Bob was president, the PGI Dive Club and St. Andrews South Golf Club, where Bob also served as president. Cate is a member of the Caloosahatchee Bromeliad Society. Bob is the new fleet captain at the Isles Yacht Club. When they find time to get away from the office, you can find them aboard their boat “The Office” where the whirlwind of activities comes to a relaxing halt for these two innovative and imaginative go-getters.
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