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daily nebraskan
friday, december 1( 1978
Pastor and wife fill their retirement3 with challenges
By Mary Fastenau
Alvin Petersen is a pastor.
He lives in a pastor's house with his
pastor's wife and reads his pastor's news
paper. He lives the life of a pastor, thinks the
thoughts of a pastor and dreams the
dreams of a pastor.
He has been a pastor since 1936 and will
continue as long as he is physically and
mentally able.
As he sits in his living room with his
wife Edel, he reflects on his life as a pas
tor with an obvious fondness for the 35
years he spent as campus pastor at the Lu
theran Student Center.
It was Alvin Petersen who was respon
sible for building the church at 535 N.
16th St., and he was instrumental in some
of the innovations of the worship service.
Retirement irrelevant
Although he speaks of the past, it is
only in passing. After his retirement from
the campus ministry, he began doing all the
things he always wanted to, making retire
ment a misnomer.
His wife describes Petersen as a "doer"
who is always looking for adventure or a
challenge. She said that instead of com
plaining about things that need to be done,
Petersen does it.
His latest adventure is his attempt to
become the chaplain for the Nebraska
Legislature.
Petersen explained that he became in
terested in the position about four years
ago. He said his goals for the position
would be to do more than give the prayer
at the beginning of each legislative day.
Legislative family counselor
He said he would like to be a friend
and a counselor to the "legislative family,"
meaning the legislators themselves, and
their families.
Petersen was approved by the Legis
lative Executive Council Nov. 16 and his
nomination will be voted upon at the
beginning of the next legislative session.
Besides his long list of activities and
honors, Petersen said he thinks his crea
tivity would help him with the job. He de
scribed himself as "an adventurous kind of
fellow," and said he enjoys "creative things
and new things."
He said he has always been interested in
community affairs and politics and thinks
the future of the church is in the commun
ity, not in institutions.
Official statements
Petersen said the church cannot give
official statements about its position be
cause it represents such a variety of people
and interests. He added, however, that be
cause the church does not give opinions, its
members also tend not to become involved.
One way Petersen is attempting to help
overcome the problem is by the formation
of Lutherans for Equal Justice, a group
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Rev. Alvin Petersen breaks
which is for equality for all citizens in
every field.
The bespectacled gentleman speaks in a
well-modulated voice, but the ideas he ex
presses are the kind that most people shout
from rooftops.
He begins most sentences and thoughts
with "we", instead of "I."
The other part of "we," his wife Edel
with her curly brown hair and a smile that
seems to second his opinions.
Work together
Mrs. Petersen explained that in their
relationship they have tried to "compli
ment and supplement" each other. If
Petersen received the legislative appoint
ment that too would be a real effort, but
she said, the legislative position is only one
option they have.
Petersen explained that he and his wife
have been asked to help with a new
concept called "leisure ministry." This
ministry is for people who have
experienced "temporary or forced leisure."
He said there are no definite plans yet.
The Petersens also will begin leading
workshops in January to prepare people
for retirement.
He said they attended a conference in
October for SMART, Senior Membership
and Retirement Training. Petersen said
they will give eight workshops with groups
of eight to 1 2 couples.
The workshops, he explained, will deal
with attitudes, money and legal matters,
housing and leisure time.
Photo by Jerry McBride
stereotypes with his lifestyle.
Mrs. Petersen said that one of the rea
sons they became interested in this project
was because retirement hit them as a "bolt
out of the blue."
The Petersens do not like to be referred
to as "retired," they said.
Petersen said people are classified by
what they do and in retirement you are
not supposed to do anything.
"We tend to classify people by what
they are doing, not who they are," he said.
The stereotype of a retired person is not
the only one that Petersen tries to break.
He said he also fights the stereotypes
associated with ministers. Whenever riding
in plane or train Petersen said he will talk
freely to people until they ask what his
occupation is. When he says, "pastor,"
he said there is normally a change in the
person's attitude.
Lunches monotonous
While involved in the campus ministry,
he said he was a member of the Faculty
Club and would go to the Alumni House to
eat. He said if anybody came to sit with
him, they seemed to feel the need to talk
about religion-one of the reasons he
eventually quit.
Mrs. Petersen said there is also a stereo
type of what a pastor's wife should be. She
said she appreciated working with students
at the Lutheran Student Center because
they allowed her to be herself.
"They did not push me into a box," she
said, "but they let me be me."
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