The Roads of Life

After a twenty-two year construction career, Vern was elected to the office of County Commissioner for Fergus County, Montana. While in office, Vern criss-crossed the state, making roads of all kinds as a transportation leader and later as president of the Montana Association of Counties (MACO). He served nationally on the National Association of Counties(NACO) as vice chair on the highways subcommittee. Vern has enjoyed the journey alongside his wife of fifty-seven years, Dana, their four children, and eleven grandchildren.

Vern Petersen grew up on the eastern plains of Montana during the mid-twentieth century, a time when frontier amenities included a tar paper roof and a hand crank truck. It was a life of poverty, sure, but Vern didn't know it. When he wasn't fishing in the crick or getting up to no good with his brothers, Vern was learning the books at a single-room schoolhouse. He spent a summer under the elements minding a herd of sheep for a payday of $42, and winters on a bobsled careening through mountains of snow. He got into wrecks of all kinds-car, bike, boat-and yet, thankfully, endured no long-lasting ill effects.Dirt roads, gravel roads, graded roads--Vern has been down them all. Sometimes in a beat-up ranch truck, other times atop a Caterpillar bulldozer. Making a go of it in Montana ain't easy, but family and a sense of humor can get you a long way. As Vern tells it, we never know where exactly the roads of life take us--and that's part of the fun.