Recipes for Living John and Julie Archer Pedersen

This is a family story about parents who came from family centered homes and are carrying on the tradition in their home. Julie was born in Lafayette, Indiana to Dick and Julia Archer. She has a brother Rick four years older than she, and a sister Sheryl who is eight years older. The family moved to Dwight, Illinois where Julie attended kindergarten, and then to Williamsburg, Iowa where she completed her education through high school. Her interests were art and swimming.

Julie began swimming competitively at age eight, through the "Y" program. She continued on the high school and "Y" teams, swimming in competition until she was 18 years old. Through the years Julie did baby sitting, taught swimming lessons, was a substitute life guard and swim coach for the "Y" program. It is not surprising that the people who stand out in her memories are her art teacher, Mrs. Dorothy Landa, and her swim coach, Mark Crouch.

Julie's mom's work was mostly at home. As Julie, the youngest, was growing up, her mom sold Avon products, which she could still do from the home. She worked for awhile with the Holden Foundation Company, which dealt with seed corn and worked closely with Pioneer, until she became involved in Dick's business.

Julie's father, Dick, had a variety of jobs. He had a bakery route, and then sold farm-related products, he ran a farm co-op service, then sold Harvestore silos. When the family moved to Iowa, he started his own company, CSA, a micro-nutrient foliar fertilizer. This was a liquid fertilizer that he manufactured, labeled, and delivered all over the country. As time went on, Dick, Julia, Rick and Julie worked in that business.

The family was always and still is extremely close. Some of Julie's fondest memories are of the vacations they took together. A favorite spot was Fairfield Bay, Arkansas. They lived in a time-share and spent most of the time on a 40,000 acre lake, Greer's Ferry, where they swam, water skied, boated, and picnicked. They were out on the water seven or eight hours a day. On their return trip they would stop in Bella Vista to play golf and ski. That became such a favorite spot that Dick moved his company there in November 1990. In addition to the climate, it had the advantage of being in the central part of the country. Dick did a tremendous amount of traveling, delivering products all over the United States.

During the years Julie was in high school, every January there were company conventions that offered the family the opportunity to travel all over the country. In the first years the sites were close to their home - the Amana Colonies - but in later years they were located farther away and took in Tucson, New Orleans, Corpus Christi, South Padre, San Antonio, and San Diego. From there the family went into Mexico.

In some cases, they went a week early and saw sights along the way. On one trip they will not forget everything went wrong. They went to the Grand Canyon but it was fogged in and they couldn't see it. The Painted Desert wasn't colorful because of weather. They were almost afraid to cross Hoover Darn. They stopped in Las Vegas where in the first hour of the first day Julie lost the $15 she had taken to try her luck in the slot machines. They have laughed about that trip ever since but each one was awesome because the family enjoyed them together. One very outstanding event was in San Diego when a doctor friend of Julie's father took them to Rosa Rita Beach and Julie rode horseback on the beach. She has always loved horses and now owns two quarter-horses, Josie's Dream and Lightning.

Julie worked for her dad while in high school, and then after she graduated, because her brother was still there, she attended Iowa State University (ISU) and majored in graphic design. It was there in her final semester that Julie and Jon met.

Jon had been born and raised in Osceola, one of the five children of Gerald and Mary Pedersen. His siblings are Diane, Pat, Terry, and Dave. Jon came along 10 years behind everyone else. As with Julie, the family was the center of everything they did. All values and everything revolved around how the parents lived their lives. The philosophy of working hard and playing hard was driven home to the children throughout their lives.

Jon attended Clarke Schools all the way through high school. Athletics was a large part of his life and something that the family enjoyed together. All three brothers played all four sports so the family attended a lot of sporting activities. Pat ran track, he and Dave played basketball, and Jon participated in football, basketball, track, and baseball.

Jon particularly remembers that he really liked his teacher Ronnie Bell from the fifth grade and that occasionally Mr. Boldon took him to his room and hid him, having Mrs. Boldon come find him. His favorite high school teachers were Mr. Dolecheck and Mr. Riley, along with the two coaches, Neil Goos and John Lowe.

The Pedersens took family vacations, also. The older children and parents went places throughout the United States, but Jon's choice was always to go to a lake in Missouri. It was a big family affair with cousins, tents, and RVs. There was a golf course that was in terrible shape but they played anyway and swam and water skied every day from morning until time for bed.

Jon is also attending ISU, majoring in Agriculture Education. He and Julie met when Jon was in his final year in college and Julie in her final semester. They met in the stands of an Iowa State/Oklahoma football game, and fell in love in very short time. They met on October 21 and were married on July 21, 1990.

Jon's first job was in Wyoming, Iowa, as Ag teacher and FFA (Future Farmers of America) advisor in Midland School. He also coached girls' basketball and was the assistant football coach at Olin. After that year Leland Dolecheck retired from Clarke and Jon and Julie moved to Osceola, where Jon took over the Ag department and FFA.

Jon taught in the Clarke system for nine years and coached football for 10 years. When he first came, he was the basketball coach for the eighth grade boys and had that position for four years. Also, while still teaching at Clarke, he coached varsity basketball for Mormon Trail School, then he gave up coaching basketball for a season and last year (2000-2001) was head coach of boys' basketball at Central Decatur in Leon.

During Jon's ninth year of teaching, he went into partnership with his dad on a hog farm. That evolved into buying out his dad and operating it alone. He had about 2100 hogs at a time. While he was farming, he was still coaching football at Clarke. Coincidental to his discovering that he missed teaching, farming wasn't working out financially. He is now the middle school science teacher at Central Decatur.

When Julie and Jon lived in Wyoming, Iowa she worked for her Dad. Preston Lee was born in July 1992, after they moved to Osceola, and Julie did child care for two years. She also went back to college, taking classes through Graceland for Elementary Education with emphasis on art. She graduated in May 1995, and started teaching in August of that year. Her first job was in Corning, teaching art in the elementary school. It was a part-time job and she taught there just a year before getting a position at St. Pius X in Urbandale. She was there for five years, teaching art in kindergarten through eighth grade. For both those jobs she commuted -an hour each way to Corning and 50 minutes each way to Urbandale, providing the roads were good. She didn't mind it until this last year when she has been at I-35 and discovers that it is a pleasure to be so close. She continues to teach kindergarten through eighth grade.

Julie finds that all the young kids are very interested in art and all have potential. She tries to enhance their talents, guide and lead them while letting them express their own creativity and originality. In the kindergarten to sixth grade years they are so eager to learn, and by seventh grade they are so talented and gifted, their ability is so good, that it is fun to work with them.

Peyton Joseph was born in February 1998, and Cole Archer in January 2002. Jon and Julie observe that the three boys are very much alike and yet very different.

Preston is laid back, conscientious, and really cares about what other people think and say. He listens well. He has enjoyed school and his teachers from the beginning. He is nine years old now and in Miss Adams' third grade class. He really likes her. On his most recent report card, he got the best score it is possible to get. In the seven areas -handwriting, math, reading, social skills, spelling, writing, and study habits- he had "excellent" in each one. Math is his favorite.

The parents say that family, family traditions, and sports are most important to Preston basketball, baseball, soccer, football, swimming - anything competitive. His favorite is basketball. He was water boy for Jon's basketball team for two years. Preston says that what he likes best are games, sleepovers in the living room, and Mickey Mouse pancakes, (three circles put together). His special friends are Caleb Johnson, Dallas Houchins, Josh Guzman, Max Coffey, Mathew Roan, Michael Kalk, Spencer Abbott, and Austin Christian.

Peyton is four, a very active child, an independent thinker, who loves to play and do anything his brother Preston is doing. He likes to think he is Preston's age and can do anything Preston does except that his way is always best. People at church remark about how good Peyton is, but the parents say that it is because he knows how to work a crowd. He is their high maintenance child.

With the exception of two mornings a week, when Mom is at work, Grandma Pedersen and Peyton take care of Cole. Peyton does a very good job of being aware of Cole and what Cole is doing. Two mornings every week Peyton goes to Over the Rainbow pre-school in the Lutheran Church. Mrs. Crandall is the director; Mrs. Stuva and Mrs. Hitz are teachers. The school provides juice and milk, and the kids bring the treats. When it was Peyton's turn, he brought teddy grahams, pop com and M & Ms. He plays with Zachary Coffey and Brittany and particularly likes play work (which is art).

At this age Cole is just being Cole. He didn't figure out his days and nights until just in time for Julie to go back to work. His brothers say that if Cole could tell his life story he would say, "Where's my mama? Where's my food?" and "Where are Peyton's toys?" The boys and Julie wrote a song which cannot properly be appreciated without Peyton's gestures as he sings, "Cole Archer Pedersen, Cole Archer Pedersen; I'm your mother, they're your brothers, and we love you and we love you, yes we do, yes we do."

Jon and Julie continue the tradition of family vacations, going to Arkansas, Arkansas, and Arkansas. Other than visiting the family, their first vacation was to St. Louis where they saw the arch, the zoo, the Science Center, and rode a boat down the Mississippi. Last year, they took Grandma Archer with them to South Dakota and saw everything in the Black Hills area. Two years ago Jon and Julie celebrated their 10th anniversary by going alone to Jamaica.

Jon grew up in the Catholic Church. When Julie's family lived in Williamsburg, she attended the Presbyterian Church and Trinity United Church of Christ. When they married, Julie and Jon visited churches in Osceola and chose the United Methodist. They attended for six years before joining as a family when Peyton was baptized in February 1999. Preston had been baptized in December 1992, and was baby Jesus in the Christmas program.

Jon and Julie believe that it was helpful to their Christian commitment that they visited, then became involved, and then joined. Before joining, Julie helped in the church nursery, painted Noah's ark in that room, was on the Education Committee and involved in Vacation Bible School. She serves on the Evangelism Committee and is now its chairperson. In that position she serves on the Church Council and is in the first Disciple Bible Study being held currently. Jon is on the Board of Trustees and is heading a committee to look at the needs of the physical plant to see what is feasible to recommend to the congregation.

Both Jon and Julie had come from families committed to their faith, but their own dedication deepened when Julie's father, Dick, died of a heart attack in November 1998. An idea began to form in Julie's mind as to how she might witness to her faith through designed t-shirts. A year ago over spring break, she started her own company-J P Christian Art Concepts. All the circumstances contributed to the idea. It had to do with Oprah, Dick passing away, art work in the eighth grade, and being at a Catholic school. She doubts that it would have happened if she had been teaching in a public school. Her customers were her students and parents at St. Pius. Between them and her family, the program got off the ground. She would like to sell shirts at arts shows with perhaps five designs printed. She has 15 designs in mind that would include animals and a whole new line that would be sports oriented. Ultimately she intends to develop a web page.

The families remain very close. Jon's family is within four hours of Osceola, Julie's sister Sheryl's family is in Muscatine, her mother is in Bentonville, Arkansas about 10 minutes from Julie's brother Rick in Bella Vista. It is evident that Jon and Julie are patterning their own family relationships and values based on their backgrounds.