1928 ~ 2021
Television Writer
The Salt Lake Tribune
October
16, 2021
Santa Fe, NM- Claire Whitaker Peterson died the evening of Thursday, September
23rd, 2021, surrounded by her family at her home in Santa Fe, NM. Those she
befriended, encouraged, mentored and inspired visited her in the last days of
her life to express their love and gratitude.
She was born Orma Clara Whitaker on May 26, 1928 in Evanston, IL to her artist
father William Ferrin Whitaker Sr. and gifted mother Martha Elizabeth Bassett.
From a young age, her intelligence, love of reading and poetry drove her
curiosity and would inspire her to pursue a career in writing. She was an
alumnus of Northwestern University in journalism which would eventually lead to
a writing career in Hollywood, blazing a trail for other female writers in a
male-dominated industry.
She moved to California in 1948 to attend classes at USC and got a job as a
typist for radio and early television programs including the Jack Benny Show
and Groucho Marx's "You Bet Your Life". One of her sons once bragged
that his mom's typewriter went faster than anyone else's, although everyone
knew it was fueled by Diet Rite Cola and boxes of Good & Plenty. When her
parents retired to La Jolla, CA in 1949, she moved in with them and would
eventually meet and marry Delbert E. Wallengren in 1951. They were married
until their divorce in 1971.
In the fall of 1951, her father Ferrin and his brothers purchased Schneitter's
Hot Pot Resort in Midway, Utah. Del and Claire joined the family caravan to the
Heber Valley outside of Park City, Utah where, on their arrival, they had to
tunnel through six feet of snow to get into the resort's lobby. The entire
family put on their work boots and remodeled the resort, renaming it The
Homestead, a name that still stands today. As children were born, they joined
parents, grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles at The Homestead in what was
a veritable family commune and those years proved to be the foundation of the
strongest and most loving bonds that a family could have.
Claire became involved in the community along with her Uncle Scott and
suggested that Midway celebrate the Swiss culture of the town of nine hundred
people. Today, Swiss Days attracts a hundred-thousand visitors to the town, one
of the largest annual gatherings in the state and a boon to the local economy.
She wrote a weekly column for the local newspaper, the Wasatch Wave, and was
part of the civic, cultural, and religious community while raising her five
children.
At the same time, she continued to write poetry and plays. In 1962 she was
given the opportunity to write a short film for the newly formed BYU Motion
Picture Studios. The film was to be presented at the LDS pavilion during the
1964 New York World's Fair. That short film, "Man's Search for
Happiness" would go on to be seen by millions, not only at the World's
Fair but by LDS members around the world. She also wrote the original
screenplay for "Johnny Lingo" and many other early church films.
In 1963, she signed with the legendary and powerful H.N. Swanson Agency in
Hollywood and began writing television screenplays for "Death Valley
Days", "Wagon Train" and "The Wonderful World of
Disney". Realizing that with more writing assignments she needed to be
near the studios in Hollywood and found herself returning to Southern
California in 1964 with her family in tow.
Claire would meet her second husband, Roderick William Peterson, on the corner
of Mickey Mouse Lane and Dopey Drive on the Walt Disney Studios lot and, after
their marriage in 1972, would begin a nearly twenty-year writing partnership.
After a successful multi-season run as writers and producers for the television
classic "The Waltons", the two of them would sign a three-year
development deal with Mary Tyler Moore Productions. After that, they returned
to Lorimar Productions and spent 8 years with their close friend and colleague
Earl Hamner on his nighttime television drama series "Falcon Crest".
Some of her television writing credits include "Emergency",
"Apple's Way", "Eight is Enough", "Promised
Land", "Baywatch", and "Touched by an Angel". She also
wrote the TV movies "A Walton Thanksgiving Reunion" and "A
Walton Wedding".
In 2012 a book of her poetry was published titled "The Listening
Place".
Claire and Rod retired to Santa Fe in 1989 where they continued to help and
encourage many young men and women that were aspiring to be writers. They enjoyed
many happy years hosting family and friends from out of town as well as
developing long lasting friendships and contributing to philanthropic work for
the American Diabetes Association, Institute of American Indian Arts, and ALSA.
Claire was preceded in death by her son Ernest Ferrin Wallengren in 2003 and
her husband Roderick Peterson in 2004. She is survived by four children; Martha
Kristin Garbett of Salt Lake City, UT, Mark Delbert Wallengren of Studio City,
CA, Eric Jon Wallengren of Murray, UT, and Rolf Whitaker Wallengren of Santa
Fe, NM. In addition to her children, she is survived by twenty-three
grandchildren and eighteen great grandchildren.
Funeral services were held at the Midway City Cemetery on Friday Morning
October 8, 2021. In lieu of flowers, a donation can be made to find a cure for
ALS by visiting www.fixals.org.
WHITAKER, Claire (Orma Clara Whitaker)
Born: 5/26/1928, Evanston, Illinois, U.S.A.
Died: 9/23/2021, Santa Fe, New Mexico, U.S.A.
Claire Whitaker’s western – writer:
Death Valley Days (TV) – 1965-1969
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