GENERAL | EDUCATION
RAYMOND PETERSON Brookings, SD
Mr. South Dakota Performing & Visual Arts A native of the small Kingsbury county town of Oldham, Ray grew up “behind the counter” of Melvin’s Store, a grocery and general merchandise business that his parents, Melvin and Helen Peterson, ran from 1939 until their retirement in 1972. As a child, Ray displayed his talents in music and art early in life, singing for church, school and community events, decorating store windows, and designing prize-winning floats for Oldham’s annual Field Day parade. Ray graduated from Oldham High School as class valedictorian in 1963 and attended Dakota State University (then General Beadle State College) where his sweepstakes-winning float designs became legendary. Active in band, choir, theatre and student government while cheerleading for both football and basketball, writing for the school newspaper and editing the Trojan yearbook, Ray was named GBSC’s “Man of the Year” in 1966 and was also listed in the 1966 edition of Who’s Who among Students in American Universities and Colleges. He graduated Summa Cum Laude and served as General Beadle’s Director of Student Activities prior to entering the United States Army in 1969. Ray completed his basic training at Fort Lewis, Washington, his schooling in transportation documentation at Fort Eustis, Virginia, and his service as a Transportation Specialist in Long Binh, Vietnam, where on January 18, 1971, he was presented the Bronze Star Medal for Meritorious Achievement.
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2018 HONORS CEREMONY
Ray enrolled as a Graduate Teaching Assistant in Speech and Theatre at South Dakota State University in 1971, graduating with a Master of Arts Degree in Speech and Theatre in 1973. He immediately became the full-time Designer/Technical Director for State University Theatre, a position Ray held for 31 years prior to becoming the administrative Director of Theatre in 2003. During his 40-year tenure at SDSU, Ray designed sets and costumes for over 200 theatre productions, directed countless musicals for both State University Theatre and Prairie Repertory Theatre, and served as the faculty advisor to the Alpha Psi Omega Dramatics Honorary Fraternity, coordinating and leading countless theatre student field trips to Minneapolis, Chicago and New York City – resulting in a cherished collection of over 350 Broadway Playbills from the plays and musicals seen between 1972 and 2011. In 1976 Ray produced and directed SDSU’s Red, White and Blue Bicentennial Revue, “Traveling with Uncle Sam,” which opened in Brookings before traveling throughout South Dakota and culminating at the annual Sioux Empire Farm Show in Sioux Falls. In 1989, as part of South Dakota’s Centennial observance, Ray once again served as both producer and director for SDSU’s state-wide touring musical, “South Dakota Proud.” The show’s 62 performances played to 29,872 people in 40 different communities before closing with two packed-
