Jim Iverson

My Kathy

Sharing Some Memories

Bill Sever has urged all of us to share more about ourselves; and there is something - I need to apologize to some of you.

It happened on the first day of school. That morning before boarding the school bus, my father told me not to let anyone bully me. I wish that he had said something like, pay attention to your teacher and make new friends. Do any of you remember being approached on the playground by a tall skinny blond kid who without saying a word, put you in a head lock and threw you on the ground? I’m sorry that I mistook you for a Bully and did that. I didn’t even know what a bully was and now I was one! I think I did it to four of you. The fifth person was a large boy with red hair. I was unable to wrestle him to ground so it ended with him pinning me to the ground. That was Carl Brood and possibly my only friend that day!

There is one more awkward moment that I would like to forget. At the beginning of that first day, we were all gathered into the gym and put into boy/girl pairs and sat cross-legged to each other. I had never heard the song “Peas Porridge Pot - Peas Porridge Hot - peas porridge in the pot 9 days old - some like it hot - some like it cold - peas Porridge in the pot 9 days old.” Everyone else seemed to know it and were singing it and that would have been OK because I like to sing too - but there was choreography to go with it! Something like - slap your partners left hand - then slap your knees - then both handed slaps. It went on and on with me not being in time with my partner. I apologize to you as well for my lack of skills. I don’t know who you were but you wore a lovely dress.

Bill Sever thought you may have been Judy Craig - because she always wore nice dresses.

There! I feel better getting that out. With my bulling day behind me, I got back on the bus to return me to the farm which was located in the Blaine community. I was the forth generation of Scandinavian immigrants who had settled there. People there knew me and all about my family.

Bill, do what ever feels appropriate with this shared experience. Bullied people sometime revert to murder for revenge.

Now... here are a few more images to let us know what Jim has been up to...

I worked with potato growers in Bolivia. Here we are cooking potatoes for a wedding dinner.

Spouse : Kathy

Kids :

     Greg a U of I graduate is married and lives in Phoenix.
     Laura a U of I graduate lives in L. A and is married.

After I graduated from the U of I, I joined the Peace Corps where I worked with farmers in Bolivia and Costa Rica. For the past 32 years I have been a plant breeder for Crookham Co. where I develop hybrid popcorn varieties and then market the seed. This has been a challenging and enjoyable career; one that has taken me through the corn belt states, South America and Europe.

Our children are still the focus of our lives and we enjoy seeing them when ever possible. We have one grand child. To begin the empty nest era, we built a new home which was significant for me in that now I have a work shop where I enjoy making furniture and doing metal projects. In addition to loving my wife of 34 years, I find sailing and singing in a vocal quartet, great sources of joy.