Esther Eggertsen grew up in a Mormon family in Provo, Utah. She graduated from Brigham Young University in 1927 with a degree in physical education. She obtained master's degree from Teachers' College, Columbia University, in 1930. She held several teaching positions during the 1930s. She taught at Bryn Mawr College Summer School for Women Workers in Industry. The school brought milliners, and garment workers onto the campus. She later moved to New York City where she married Oliver Peterson. In 1932, the two moved to Boston, where she taught at the Winsor School and volunteered at the YWCA. Peterson was a Latter-day Saint.