Leading local conservationist left mark on Barrington area
Dr. Shirley Peterson was one of the first female pediatricians in the Barrington area, but her bigger impact on the area likely comes from her environmental activism.
For years, families moving into Barrington turned to Dr. Peterson as their pediatrician for their new babies and small children. The 53-year resident of Barrington ran her thriving practice out of her home at Grove and Cook streets from 1955 to 1987. She died Jan. 17 at age 86.
"She was a very gracious lady and very well respected in Barrington," says Dr. Bruce Bell, a family doctor in Fox River Grove, "and she was a very competent pediatrician."
However, her lasting legacy, colleagues say, is her environmental work, serving in leadership positions with both the Citizens for Conservation and the Barrington Natural History Society.
Sam Oliver, executive director of Citizens for Conservation in Barrington, points to the blanket of shooting star wildflowers that bloom every spring at Baker's Lake as a direct result of Dr. Peterson's restoration efforts.
Dr. Peterson was the group's steward at Baker's Lake, where she led other volunteers in restoring the savanna, first in removing invasive species before replacing them with native plants and wildflowers.
Their restoration efforts were part of a larger collaborative effort to preserve the lake's rookery for the endangered night crown heron and other wildlife.
"She leaves a real legacy," Oliver says, "not just in her love of nature, but of actual work in the preservation and restoration of natural preserves."
Chuck Westcott, the former director of Crabtree Nature Center in Barrington who worked with Dr. Peterson in the Natural History Society, concurred.
"She was a roll-up-your-sleeves, grovel-in-the-dirt kind of conservationist," Westcott says.
Over the years, her activism earned her some high-profile awards.
In 1986, she earned the highest award given by Citizens for Conservation members, their William Miller Conservation Award.
In 2002, Dr. Peterson was inducted into the Barrington Area Council on Aging Senior Hall of Fame.
In 2004, members of the Elgin-based Sybaquay Council of Girl Scouts of America honored Dr. Peterson as one of their Women of Distinction, for her lifetime membership and support, as well as the many nature workshops she held for Scouts.
Dr. Peterson reflected on her long support in a brief statement published in the council's awards program, in which she dated her membership back to 1932.
"Girl Scouts introduced me to many interests such as my passion for wildflowers, collecting Indian arrowheads, canoeing and cooking," Dr. Peterson wrote. "My Girl Scout experiences are where I gained my self-confidence and I was able to pass many of my lessons on to younger troops."
In her spare time, Dr. Peterson nearly single-handedly transformed a 106-acre farm in Burlington, Wis., into a nature preserve, with woodland, prairie and a pond, as well as some 60,000 trees.
Just last year, she declared the 45-year project complete and donated 86 acres to the Seno Center of the Wisconsin Woodland Owners Association.
Private services have been held.