When We Were Lions: Ch. 8Resume Builder: Farm Kid

Ok reader, let’s get walking. Blueberry Road is kinda long.

The bible says the Father is the potter and we are the clay.

They musta been talking about farm kids.

Or clods! Know what a clod is? No, look it up when we get back.

Coach will like this comment: My youngest son is a Senior in high school this year and came home from a career day where the job recruiter said, “Two things I look for on a resume or job application after college: College Athlete and Farm Kid.”

My son said some of the kid’s kinda laughed at that.

The job recruiter said, “I’m not joking! If you were a farm kid growing up, put FARM KID on your application or resume as one of your job experiences, especially if you apply at my company, you are almost guaranteed a job.”

After wheat depleted the Wisconsin soil back in the 1800’s so Wisconsin farmers turned to dairy farming and by 1915 over 90% of Wisconsin farms were dairy farms and…

by 1947 Wisconsin’s “America’s Dairyland” moniker was well established.

What shapes a man?

Home town, family, hard work.

Coach comes from a large farm family of 7 siblings and a set of parents who lived to be in their nineties and sadly, only passed away just recently.

Running around on the farm, playing a game of baseball called ‘work up’ because there was not enough kid’s around to make two teams, and having plenty of chores to do developed in coach a very determined work ethic, sense of responsibility and a good ability as a leader later in life.

As I pulled into his driveway I noticed fresh pruning’s laying around the tree’s leading up to the house and even though he is fighting MDS, I said to myself, “I bet he’s out here pruning tree’s.”

He was.

Said he was feeling cooped up when I asked him about it.

Stealing some of the words of the Baldwin homepage and adding a few of my own to describe coach;

“If a boy starts out with good principles and a firm foundation, like the village of Baldwin did, half the battle of his future has been won.”

“Dean was designed as a small country boy and though he has grown, and moved away, he still possesses that sweet country boy flavor that so many have come to appreciate and admire.”

(Not a picture of Mr Peterson)

One story about his time as a wrestling coach centered around a comment kid’s would make at practice. He said it wouldn’t fail, every year some kid would complain and say, “This is so hard!”

I loved coaches answer…

“Hard, this isn’t hard. Do you know what hard is? I’ll tell ya what hard is. Hard is getting up before school to do chores or milk the cows, go to school, go to practice, come home and chisel frozen silage for two hours, have supper, do some more chores and then finish your homework before bed.”

We both agreed that even though organized sports for kids is good, we both feel that everything is way too organized.

Kid’s don’t know how to work things out to keep the game going, much less how to stick up for themselves or others if need be.

I know, it’s not the 1940’s or ’50’s any more… 

and even in my small town we had a guy stop and come into the yard to watch the kids as they were playing on the swing set. Weird!

Good thing there was a fence between him and our dog, same kinda fence that met me at coaches house, because she was right in his face barking, one of those ugly barks that made me drop the dishes and come a’runnin!

As coach grew up he would need a solid foundation like the one he received from his family, the farm life and home town of Baldwin WI, as he was of a generation that would be coming of age in the tumultuous 1960’s.