FRESNO, Calif. -- Funeral services will be held Monday for Lorraine Collett Petersen, the original Sun-Maid Raisin Girl who died Wednesday after a brief illness. She was 90.
Mrs. Petersen's smile became the nationwide symbol of the grower cooperative in 1915 whena portrait of her, clad in a red bonnet and holding a basket of grapes, first appeared on Sun-Maid's boxes.
Although the picture has been modernized several times over the years, it is still basically the same with the sun shining behind a young woman and one curl dangling over her shoulder as she clutches the basket.
She was 17 when she was chosen to pose for the Fanny Scafford portrait. She received only her $15 a week salary as a seeder and packer for a subsidiary of Sun-Maid.
In 1974, Sun-Maid President Frank Light presented her with a plaque with the Sun-Maid emblem in bronze. She turned over to the cooperative the original Scafford portrait for which Sun-Maid paid her $1,700.
'We're all shocked by her death,' Light said. 'She became a part of our institution for three generations, part of the family. The most valuable thing Sun-Maid had is the girl in the red bonnet.'
Mrs. Petersen is survived by a son, John.
