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Today's Featured Biography

 
Thomas Peterson

I may live another thirty years, but I have already experienced and seen a lot. And except for the end of this piece, which is the most important, here is some of my life in no particular order.

I�ve seen the Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal, the Eiffel Tower, Mt McKinley, the Grand Canyon, the Imperial Palace in Kyoto, Japan, the Forbidden City in Beijing, China, the Rocky Mountains, Niagara Falls, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Gulf of Mexico, the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Alaska, the Space Needle in Seattle, the Arch in St. Louis, the Statue of Liberty and the Golden Gate Bridge. I had lunch at the top of the World Trade Center and prayed in St. Patrick�s Cathedral and the Cathedral of Notre Dame. I�ve been to all fifty US states. Many of the states were seen from the back seat of a station wagon with my three brothers on two week vacations with our parents. Those station wagons had no radio or air conditioning.

I�ve run in Central Park, Hong Kong, the Amazon rain forest and many major cities in the US. I walked over ever bridge in Paris (37). I ran in downtown Minneapolis the day after the greatest snow fall in that city�s history, and in Pierre, SD in 107 degrees. I have also finished four marathons.

I�ve lived my entire life within a twenty-five mile radius of where I was born. And like almost anyone born and raised in Minnesota, I�ve walked across the head-waters of the Mississippi. I�ve owned six homes, including one lake home.

I�ve played tennis at Forest Hills and golfed at Pebble Beach. I skied in Aspen and walked, with a cracked rib, up to 13,000 feet on a mountain in Colorado. I also sailed on Lake Superior. I�ve helped build community centers in Mexico City and the Dominican Republic, as well as a Habitat for Humanity House in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.

I�ve been to the National Gallery and the Louvre, and viewed the paintings of Monet, van Gogh, Renoir and many others. I saw the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo. I also saw the Hope Diamond. I walked to the top of the Washington Monument with my brothers to save the $.25 elevator fee and took a car tour through Gettysburg.

I�ve seen the confluence of the Amazon and the Rio Negro River in the Amazon Rain Forest and Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I drove over 7900 miles from Minneapolis, Minnesota to Anchorage, Alaska and back, through much of Western Canada and up the Alaska Highway.

I�ve flown commercially in coach, business and first class probably half a million miles. I also have flown in private jets many times. I�ve owned many new and used cars a couple that cost a low six figure. But my first car was a two door �52 Chevy coup that cost $50 and would only turn right. I got that fixed. The car also had a bent bumper, which I replaced with a bumper I found in a junk yard. When I bolted the replacement into place I found it was also bent.

I saw Harmon Killebrew play baseball, Fran Tarkington play football, Michael Jordan play basketball and Tiger Woods golf, all in person. I saw the Lakers play in Minneapolis before they moved to LA and the Minneapolis Millers play at Nicollet Park. And I remember watching on television the last game Ted Williams played. He hit a home run. I�ve seen ball games in the old Yankee Stadium and the old Madison Square Garden. I also watched a game in person at Wrigley Field. I remember watching Howdy Doody. And remember the last Howdy Doody show when Clarabelle talked for the first and only time and said �see ya kids�.

I was in high school chemistry class the day Kennedy was shot, in my office in downtown Minneapolis on 9/11 and in Bismarck, ND when the Challenger exploded. I have never shot a gun, other than a pellet gun. I don�t care much for fishing, but my dad loved to fish. I played the trumpet and was probably not as good as I recall. I remember my first kiss, she is still a friend. I don�t remember drinking alcohol until I was out of college, but now I probably drink too much.

I paid for one hundred percent of my private college education, primarily by driving truck through Minnesota, Iowa and the Dakotas. That job also taught me how to use power tools and I worked hard, and left the job each night physically depleted. I graduated from Augsburg College where I played intercollegiate tennis, but had below average grades.

I can�t explain my apparent success, except that people like and trust me and I�m smarter than my college grades would have indicated. I�ve been an accountant, financial advisor, investment banker and chief investment officer. I�ve had jobs for short periods of time, such as accounting for Honeywell and for long periods of time, such as chief investment officer for The Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society, affectionately known as Good Sam. I have worked continuously since 1963, and have never been out of work.


I have and have had many very good friends and don�t give up friends easily. Friends have prayed for me in times of tribulation and friends that have rejoiced with me at other times. I�ve lost friends to death but rarely by animosity. I�ve loved and lost.

I was with both my Mother and Father when they died and told them that I loved them. I also was with my Grandma and Grandpa Staum when they died or just moments before.

I became a Christian at a very early age and was baptized by a clergy friend when I was about 48 in a river in Austin, MN. My parents and their parents were also Christian. This has been a big part of my life and has certainly added to my ethic.

It has been said that you can consider your life fulfilled if you know the children of your children. If this is true, my life has been fulfilled. I wept when Calley, my first granddaughter was still-born, but there have not been much happier days than when Leighton, Lucy and Carston were born. I have prayed for the three grandkids every day of their lives as I do every morning for Christopher and Lori.

I have been writing for a while now and this is the first time Christopher�s name has come up. I meant it to be last because he is the most important part of my life. I remember lying awake at night wondering why God had blessed me with this almost perfect son. I can�t explain why I have been so blessed with Christopher, but I have. He has been a joy to me every day that I have known him. He is very wise. I have learned from him as I hope he has learned from me. No father could be prouder.

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