Warren Jacobsen and Gudrun Pedersen -- 67 years

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Brief Overview

Warren Jacobsen and Gudrun Pedersen -- 67 years.

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Warren and Gudrun’s love story began in high school, where they were each other’s first and only true love. Gudrun was a first-generation Danish-Norwegian-American, the daughter of immigrant Peder K. Pedersen and his wife, Olga Leistad. Warren was second-generation, descending from Danish immigrants on both sides of his family. He later related details of the couple’s meeting and courtship: “I started my freshman year in high school in Elk Horn. Early that year a real pretty girl caught my eye. Her name was Gudrun Pedersen and she lived four miles east of Kimballton. It took some time before I worked up courage to talk to her. Gudrun and I would walk downtown from the school during the noon hour. My dad often drove my sisters, Gudrun, and other friends to the basketball games I played in.” Once Warren was able to drive, he invested in his first automobile so he could court Gudrun in style. They dated all through high school and were married on December 3, 1944 in the Elk Horn Church. During the wedding reception the weather unexpectedly turned bad and the ice-covered roads prevented leaving on a honeymoon trip. They spent their wedding night at the home of Gudrun’s parents. A few days later, they were out in the fields picking corn by hand for a neighbor. ~~ In February 1945 Warren’s draft papers arrived in the mail and the couple moved to Tyler, Texas, where they subsisted largely on ice cream in the unaccustomed hot weather. That fall Warren became part of the occupation Army in Japan and Gudrun returned to Elk Horn. They were reunited a year later and were never again separated. Through the years Warren and Gudrun worked as a team in many ventures, farming, operating the Dairy Twist and later the Danish Inn restaurant. They were parents to three children, Gwen, Dean and Paulette, leaving a legacy of enduring love for their many descendants.