Henry J. Peterson Jr. loved to drive. He was usually the one behind the wheel whenever his family went anywhere together, and he never seemed to get tired of the road. In fact, he enjoyed driving so much that he turned it into a career.
Henry’s father was a truck driver, and when Henry was a child, he treasured any opportunity he had to join his dad as he worked. Seeing new places appealed to Henry, and he went onto get his commercial driver’s license himself.
“He fell in love with it,” his sister Viola Peterson said. “We have family in the South, and when he was driving long-distance, he’d call them and be like, ‘I’m in your city! I’m coming through.’ He was able to motivate friends and family and cousins to get their CDL too.”
Henry was the father of two daughters, Melanie, 5, and Harlei, who just turned 2 on March 19. He bought Harlei a toy truck that she could ride and assembled it the weekend before her birthday rather than waiting.
“He said he wanted to do it now,” Viola said. “Mind you, he never put stuff together. He’s no handyman. But he put it together and let her ride it all around that Saturday.”
That night, on March 15, 2020, Henry went out with his friends to a bar in West Philadelphia. Later, after midnight, a 29-year-old man he had encountered in the bar opened fire on Henry’s vehicle, fatally shooting him and wounding his passenger. The gunman was arrested the next day.
While Viola is glad that police made an arrest, it still doesn’t take away the anger of losing her brother to gun violence.
“If my brother died from anything else — a car crash, anything else — I would probably be more accepting of it. I can’t accept that my brother died from a gunshot because that wasn’t his life. So, honestly, I’m angry. The guy is arrested, but I still don’t feel like jail is enough.”
Henry, who went by the nickname “Junior,” was born in Philadelphia to his parents Judy and Henry Peterson Sr. on Sept. 13, 1993. Henry was the youngest of three; in addition to Viola, he had another sister, Cynthia Walker.
Henry was playful and enjoyed life. Even though he was the younger brother, he took on the role of protector for his sisters.
“If he loved you, you knew it,” Viola said. “We grew up extremely close. Extremely close.”
Henry graduated from Edward W. Bok Technical High School in 2011. When he became a father a few years later, it motivated him to become the best provider possible. He bought a house in West Philly and he set up a financial plan for his daughters’ futures.
“He was always a good person, but it grew him to become a man,” Viola said. “When he got with his kids’ mother, I saw him change for the better. He became more responsible. He was really a family man. He went to work and his kids looked forward to him coming home every night.”
When Henry was home, or anywhere, he loved to eat, and soul food was his favorite. He enjoyed playing basketball with his friends and watching football, but nothing was more important to him than his family.
In addition to his parents, sisters, children and extended family, Henry is also survivied by his children’s mother, Nadiyah Parker.
Henry’s funeral service was March 21 at the Church of Christian Compassion in West Philadelphia and he is laid to rest at Fernwood Cemetery.