Vinita Lodge Assists Local Area Man By Providing Wheelchair Carrier

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(Story and photo by Beth Griswold - Vinita Daily Journal)

     Ketchum's Bobby Pederson found out when you ask, you shall receive from the Vinita Masonic Lodge #5.
     After the 52-year-old Pederson of Ketchum asked his friend John Spurgeon if there was any way they could help out with purchasing a wheelchair carrier, Spurgeon took the question back to his fellow lodge members, who agreed to purchase the carrier for Pederson.
     Pederson was born with spastic cerebral palsy.  According to his mother, June Pederson, 72, the doctors told her his life span would only be about 15 years.  She has cared for her son his entire life.
     Although Bobby has a crippling disease, he never let that stop him from enjoying life.  He has enjoyed four- and three-wheel riding and loves to talk about it with many friends he has accumulated since moving to the Ketchum area in 1983.
     "He just does what he wants to," his mother said.  "He don't let anything get him down."
     Serving her community, June Pederson has served on the Ketchum Public Works Autority for 12 years, and is in her third term.  She never misses a meeting to the KWPA or the Ketchum Town Board.
     Up until his father, Ben Pederson, died in 1994, Bobby had bother parents.  But now it is just the two of them, and Bobby explained that he asked for assistance because of concerns for his mother.
     "I talked to John and asked if there is any way for assistance to make easier on mom," Bobby said.