Robert D. Pedersen
Fifty years! Wow! Where did they go? Thinking back to high school, I remember being clueless about what I wanted to do in life. It took a few years to get my act together and realize that college was necessary. By this time I was married to Virginia Thompson and living in Ardmore. Saint Joseph’s University was close by and I obtained a B.S. Degree in Business Administration, taking some courses at Temple toward the degree. During this time I served six years in the PA Air National Guard.
Meanwhile, two children later, I had stumbled into the world of credit and financial management. My first job after college was with DuPont in Wilmington, DE. There was a series of credit management positions and relocations, eventually ending up in New York with Borden Foods. We relocated to Nanuet, NY, a northern suburb of New York City. Years later, Virginia and I went our separate ways and I moved into Tudor City, a residential enclave near the United Nations complex.
A few years later I met Audre (in the laundry room of our apartment building of all places). We married, honeymooned in Bermuda and have been going back there regularly. Our fifteen minutes of fame was when The New York Times did a feature article about couples who meet in their buildings, and we agreed to the interview and photo. By this time I was with Olin Corp. as a Credit Director and enjoyed the nationwide travel required in that position.
With cancer behind me, I am now retired and loving it. Audre and I divide our time between urban life in New York and our home on the North Fork of Long Island. We enjoy the performing arts in the city, among many other interests. The house on the North Fork is about one hundred years old and renovating it became another hobby. We have tried to stay true to its original character. The North Fork, for those who may not know, is a string of very old villages separated by small farms and vineyards, sticking out into the Atlantic Ocean about thirty miles from the end of Long Island. We are active in a local historical society, environmental groups and a Presbyterian Church with roots that go back to 1640. My favorite times are early mornings spent in the garden and boating on the bay.
Life has its ups and downs and no one escapes unscathed. The low point of my life was when my son David died from diabetes as a young man. By contrast my daughter Beth has given us an adorable granddaughter, Katy, who is now four years old. She knows how to hail a taxi in Manhattan as well as have fun at the beach. We love the times we can all get together.