Evelyn and family,
I am thankful I took the time to write Bob a letter serveral years ago and express how much he meant to me.
After living my entire life in Wisconsin, my first job after college took me to KTVE in El Dorado. I arrived in a 1985 Pontiac Parisienne with everything I owned and spent my first few nights in town under the Weavers' roof until I found an apartment.
Bob asked me every week to join him at church on Sunday. I did once. The station secretary Jo Shipman assured me that Bob would stop asking eventually, and he did. But what Bob never stopped doing was caring about me. He never stopped modeling a Christian walk unfamilar to me.
When state representative Bobby Newman of Smackover stormed into the station one day and read me the riot act because he didn't like a story I did Bob listened from his office and let me take it for a while but soon came out and rose to my defense, causing the legislator to storm out angrier than when he arrived. I commented to Bob that I was surprised to see a strong Christian man get so riled up..."Aren't you supposed to turn the other cheek?" Bob instructed me that being a Christian is not synonymous with being a pushover. He told me about Jesus overturning the moneychangers' tables in the temple and how Jesus would recognize wrong and offer stern corrections and rebukes.
What Bob was really doing was making it clear to me that his life and actions were based on something. He didn't make it up as he went along. He didn't practice situational ethics. The Bible and Christ was his source of strength and direction, and if I wanted to influence people the way Bob influenced me then I might want to follow his lead.
Some bosses inspire anger or rebellion. Others inspire fear or timidity. I was truly blessed to have Bob as my first boss. He didn't teach me much about writing or editing or storytelling. But the things he did teach me have benefited not only all the bosses who have followed him but also my wife and my children. Honesty, kindness, patience and concern are character traits Bob modeled everyday. Thankfully an impressionable college graduate far from home was paying attention.
Bob did take the time to teach me how to properly fill out an expense report. Even today when I do this task, I think of him and am thankful God intersected our paths for a short while.
Jason Pederson
