LOUISBURG - Jeannette Peterson Arnold Lord, known to her friends and family as Jeannette, died December 30, 2012.   Born to Mr. and Mrs. Donald Peterson of Smithfield, NC on March 7, 1919, Jeannette grew up in Smithfield where she attended elementary and high school.  She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a B.S.S.A. degree in 1940.  She taught at Wakelon High School in Zebulon, worked with the Judge Advocate’s Department at Camp Davis, NC, during World War II, served as an accountant for 15 years at an auto dealership in Wendell, and taught business and served as senior sponsor for 22 years at Louisburg High School, where she retired in 1982. 

She was preceded in death by her parents, 3 sisters, 2 brothers, her first husband, Claude Arnold, who died in 1966, and her second husband, Arthur Lord, who died in 1986.  Upon the death of her first husband, she finished out his unexpired term as a member of the Franklin County Board of Commissioners, serving as the first woman on that board. 

When Jeannette married Arthur Lord in 1972, she gained a family of 3 stepchildren, having had no biological children of her own.  In the fullness of time, she was blessed with 3 grandchildren, Jay, Laura, and Ben, and she was the best grandmother that any grandchild could have. 

Jeannette Lord was a special person in the lives of many Louisburg High School students.  She taught them life skills in business and accounting, but more importantly showed them a wider world through senior trips to New York and Washington, DC.  She also taught them how to live with elegance and grace as she was a true southern lady in every sense of the term.

She is survived by stepchildren Bill Lord and Sue Guerrant of Louisburg, NC, Betsy and John Saxon of Birmingham, AL, Henry Lord of Flat Rock, NC;  grandchildren Jay Saxon of Birmingham, AL,  Laura Lord of Bryn Mawr, PA, and Ben Lord of Raleigh, NC; nieces, JoAnne Staler of Nashville, TN, Julie Marshall of Key Largo, FL, Melissa Wolfe of Ohi, CA, Gibson Wolfe of Carpenteria, CA, Linda Chavez of Oakland, CA, Ben Peterson of Naperville, IL, John Peterson of Orlando, FL, Deborah Wamsley of Orlando, FL, and Andy Lydick, of Dallas, TX.  
Visitation will be from 3:30 – 5:00 PM Tuesday, January 1, at Strickland Funeral Home in Louisburg.  Graveside services will be at 11:00 AM Wednesday, January 2, 2013 at Lancaster Memorial Park.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Franklin County Library, 906 N. Main St., Louisburg, NC 27549 or the N.C. Council for the Blind, P.O. Box 7126, Charlotte NC  28241-7127.

Arrangements are by Strickland Funeral Home & Crematory, Louisburg, www.stricklandfuneralhome.net.

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