Recipes for Living Joe and Teri Johnston

I grew up on a farm near Grand River. My parents are Ed and Reva Beers. My father was raised on a nearby farm. He and my mother purchased the home place early in their lives and have been expanding ever since. It was a typical farm at that time. Dad had cattle, hogs, and row crops and pasture. Mom had a garden and raised chickens. As times changed, Dad added a confinement shed and eventually got away from hogs. My older sister, Sheila Overton, and I helped Mom with the garden and chickens. We were surprised by a baby brother many years later. I was 13 when my brother Bill was born. Bill was much more involved than we girls had been with helping Dad, and he still does that today.

Sheila and I were close enough in age to irritate each other. Mom tried to separate us as much as she could. For instance, she mopped the kitchen floor every morning and gave us the choice of either staying inside or outside until the floor dried. Sheila would usually choose inside. I would choose outside and it seemed to take hours for the floor to dry. If I really had to come in, Mom would show me exactly where to walk. I could never tell, as the entire floor always appeared to be dry.

As we got older our differences were sometimes settled with a game of "catch.", The goal of this game was to throw a softball so hard the other person could not catch it. Sheila would try to divert my attention just as I was catching the ball. Sometimes it would work and I would get smacked by the ball. Sheila was the catcher, I was the pitcher, and as we got older she began taunting me about being a "wimpy" pitcher. That made me so mad, and I remember that I wanted to throw that ball SO hard!

I attended high school at Central Decatur in Leon. I played trumpet in the band, was editor of the school newspaper, was a football cheerleader, and participated in all sports activities available at the time. I worked part-time at Casey's across the street from the high school before school, evenings, and on weekends.

Following graduation I attended AIB (American Institute of Business) in Des Moines. I majored in accounting and computer programming. Several roommates from that time are among some of my best friends. We communicate via e-mail and get together occasionally.

While at AIB, I worked part-time at Iowa Power and Light in their computer department. I started as a computer operator. A team of computer operators ran two main frame computers, printed all reports and bills, and generated micro-fiche. After graduation, I worked there full time and was promoted to computer scheduler. My job was to set up the stream of computer programs to be run that night. A good night was measured by whether or not the work was completed by the time I arrived at work the next morning.

The computer equipment of that era was massive. Much of our information was backed up to magnetic tapes. We had a bank of eight tape drives. Each was larger than a refrigerator. Our first disk drives held removable disk packs. I believe we had 26 drives. The first hard drives came in a stack of two. Together they were taller than a dishwasher.

We had one of the first laser page printers in the country. The repair people told us it was one of only four in use. We considered them experts since they spent more time working on it than we did. The monitor was at least ten feet long. We had nicknames' for some of our equipment. I don't recall what name we gave the printer, but usually it was called names that shouldn't be printed.

I enjoyed working there and found the work fascinating. The company often received bomb threats for the computer area. Other workers were given the option to taking personal time off. We were never given that option, but never took the threats too seriously. Occasionally I filled in for the supervisor on the graveyard shift. On one such night, a storm took out our electricity. We lost several hours of work. The equipment generated a tremendous amount of heat. The air conditioner had not kicked back in and the temperature began to rise rapidly. Extreme heat can cause loss of information. I contacted the maintenance man who promised to take care of it immediately. The temperature continued to rise and I had to order all the equipment and lights to be shut off to curtail the generation of more heat. We evacuated the room. The maintenance man informed me it was working fine and then disappeared. As the heat continued to rise and he was nowhere to be found, I ran down to the first floor entrance and set off the security alarm. He came running and this time had a different understanding of the magnitude of the problem. The air conditioning was fixed but it took us 24 hours to recreate the lost data.

My next occupation was banking. I worked at Tingley State Savings Bank in Mt. Ayr. After working there about two years, I received a call from Lamoni National Bank. They had an in-house computer center and needed someone to run it. There I was in a position to use both my computer and accounting skills. It was a good fit for me and I advanced quickly. Jim Schipper was the president of the bank at that time. He allowed me to take classes at Graceland College while working full time.

It was a hectic time for me working full-time, taking anywhere from three to twelve hours of classes at Graceland, and a three-year advance banking class in Madison, Wisconsin. My mother has said, "You always find a way to do what you have to do." That is so true. We see people dealing with situations and wonder how they do that, but I have come to know that when you have to, you find a way, and I was determined to finish my bachelor's degree. By the time I left the bank, my title was Vice President/Cashier and I was also the Secretary/Treasurer of the bank holding company.

I was contacted in the spring of 1990 by a State Farm Insurance manager. My name had been given to him as a potential agent. I didn't think it was anything I wanted to do, but I agreed to listen. It took him four months to talk me into it. This was amidst a battery of aptitude tests, licensing tests, and product knowledge tests. After completing the lengthy screening process, I was appointed as a trainee agent with offices in Leon and Lamoni. The trainee period is a two year sink-or-swim period. I made it.

In 1993 I began a series ten courses and exams that culminated in the designation of Chartered Life Underwriter. I received that designation in Atlanta in 1995.

My job has given me the good fortune of being able to travel. National Conventions have been held in Las Vegas, Chicago, Nashville, and Dallas. In addition I have earned trips to Cancun, the Bahamas, Austria, Rome, and Hawaii. In Austria I was recognized for being the only agent who had been with the company less than one year to qualify for the trip. As my name was called and I was asked to stand, my only thought was that there had been a mistake. I wasn't supposed to be there and I would have to leave and reimburse all expenses paid on my behalf I was relieved to find out I was being honored, but nevertheless I spent the rest of the trip looking over my shoulder.

In 1995 I had the opportunity to come to the Osceola office but I also kept the one at Lamoni. Insurance has been challenging and rewarding. There is a wide range of law, products, and services to stay current on. In addition to traditional insurance, an agent also offers variable products, mutual funds, loans, leases, and deposit products. I've had the privilege of working with lots of people. My goal is to enhance the financial stability of the people and families I work with.

Having our first child at our ages caused a huge change of lifestyle. Joe's father was 64 when he was born so by comparison, we are young parents. Nick was a happy baby. He learns quickly and has a large vocabulary. He is three years old and loves to tell stories. Usually they contain some element of truth. He is captivated by vacuums and loves to play "golf ball" with his mom and dad.

Being a parent has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. When I first discovered I was pregnant, I had a great sense of happiness and contentment. I felt like I was doing exactly what I should be doing. At this point, how do I look at life? That is a hard question but I know that being a good parent is at the top of my priority list. If I could pass on to my children the ability to know and do the right thing, make good choices, to be happy with what they have, I would feel good about it.