LEWES - Barbara J. Peterson, 69, of Lewes, went home to be with the Lord, Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2012, at Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia, with close friends by her side. She received her Doctorate in Education at Temple University in Philadelphia and her Master's Degree in Nursing at the University of Delaware. She also graduated from Wheaton College of Illinois where she received her Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing. As a devoted Christian, educator and nurse, Barbara's compassion was helping people. She held many positions in her career as a nurse, since 1962. The director of the Beebe Hospital School of Nursing, assistant instructor and professor at the University of Delaware, Professor at Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina, Associate Professor at Messiah College in Grantham, PA, staff nurse, camp nurse and educator in several other states, as a missionary nurse she served the Lord in Zambia, Africa and the Dominican Republic. From 1994 to 1998, she was director of Milford Hospital Home Health Department. Her most recent position as Corporate Compliance Educator at Bayhealth Medical Center since 1998, allowed her to be in contact with every employee at Bayhealth. Her compassion was to not only educate, but to know and befriend each individual person. In March 2000, Barbara was welcomed by Governor Tom Carper as a delegate to the Delaware Mentoring Summit. In 2003, she received the Geraldine Webb Pallidino Award for Outstanding Healthcare Education. She was an active member of the Delaware Board of Nursing and past president and vice president. She was an active member of the Delaware Nurses Assoc., the American Nurses Assoc., the National League for Nursing and a Signa Theta Tau member. She was currently on the National Council of the Boards of Nursing Examination Committee in Chicago as one of only 10 members throughout the U.S. She was also an active member of the Del. Board of Nursing Practice and Education Committee. As an active member of the First Baptist Church in Lewes, she loved to worship the Lord through praise and singing solos with the choir. In her spare time, she was a member of the Beebe Medical Center Auxiliary, spent much time visiting and encouraging friends, traveled, was an avid reader, loved sports and enjoyed the companionship of her beloved cat, Louie. She was preceded in death by her parents, the Reverend Harold Peterson and Mrs. Edith Peterson and her dearest friend, Judith Petersen. She is now reunited with them in Heaven. Barbara's greatest prayer was that everyone she came in contact with would come to know the Lord. Barbara loved the Lord wholeheartedly and one of her favorite Bible verses was "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?" Psalm 27:1. She is survived by her brother, Robert Peterson of Claymont; her nephew, Robert Peterson II, also of Claymont; her dearest friend, Cathy Schenker of Milton; relatives in New Jersey and Canada as well as coworkers, numerous and close friends throughout the country, too numerous to mention by name. Be assured, she loved each one of you. She also left behind her cat, Louie. Having remained single with no children of her own, she helped raise Michelle Carey Munch, now of Pennsylvania, and Bethanne Covington Mabbitt, now of South Carolina. Funeral Services will be 2 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 19, 2012, at the First Baptist Church, 1001 Kings Highway, Lewes. Visitation will be held on Saturday, Feb. 18, 2012 from 5 to 7 p.m. in the chapel of Short Funeral Services, 416 Federal St., Milton. Burial will be held on Monday, Feb. 20, 2012, at 1 p.m. at the Henlopen Memorial Park in Milton.