Chris Cook – Forks Forum photo

Oscar "Pete" Peterson and his wife Wilma Peterson hosted a dinner for their long-time friends from Artyom, Russia, an industrial city of about 100,000 residents located northeast of the Sea of Japan port city of Vladivostok. Tatiana Johnson (right) befriended the Peterson’s granddaughter Amy (Peterson) Pruss when Amy was a Peace Corps volunteer in their city in the mid-1990s. With Tatiana is her mother, Nadezhda Ruchkina. Amy is the daughter of Gary and Charlotte Peterson of the Upper Hoh Valley, and niece of Stan and Linda Peterson of Forks. Both couples greeted the Russian visitors at a family dinner at Pete and Wilma Peterson’s home in Forks on Thursday evening, Jan. 24.

Tatiana now resides in Louisiana and is married to an American graduate student attending LSU. She holds a Master’s degree in public relations from LSU, and hopes to earn a Ph. D in the field in the future. She has served as an English language-Russian language translator for Exxon Mobil.

The Russian mother and daughter are also visiting in Port Angeles with Glynda Schaad, the daughter of Pete and Wilma, who is an instructor at Peninsula College in Forks and Port Angeles. Tatiana lived with Glynda while attending Peninsula College for one year. Peterson family members in addition to Amy have traveled to Artyom to visit with her family.