discouraged and was ready to give up, when I decided to do something my mother had taught me — pray about it. Upon retiring that evening, I asked God to help me in solving this problem. I simply prayed, “ Dear Lord, maybe You don’t want me to invent a baby stroller, but my wife does, and I think it’s important to keep her happy. Amen.” That very night God showed me in a dream exactly how to hinge the folding mechanism so that the stroll er would fold automatically. It was as though the whole thing was flashed on a screen. I was awakened with a start realizing that God had answered my prayer and I fell on my knees to thank Him. I then made a sketch of the mechanism . . . put it together the following evening and it worked perfectly. In 1945 God seemed to be direct ing me to formulate a company to manufacture the first patented fold ing baby stroller. God lovingly test ed our faith with discourging losses and heartaches for a year and a half. We hopefully started every morning with Bible reading and prayer and, believe me, we had a great deal to pray about. Daylight finally pierced through the long dark night, giving us the encouragement we needed to stick it out. From the original Folda Rola the Peterson Baby Prod ucts line has grown to many varia tions of strollers, high chairs, play pens and car seats which are sold throughout the United States as well as in several foreign countries. A factory warehouse is maintained in Chicago with permanent display rooms in New York, Chicago, Atlan ta, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Our Guardian Angel has worked overtime giving us publicity in the READER’S DIGEST, COLLIERS, LOOK and many publications. FOR TUNE Magazine featured a story called “ Peterson Company Prays for Profits.” Very frankly none of this would have been possible if God had not chosen to bless our efforts and be come a Partner in our business. Under His guidance we have grown from a 4,000 sq. ft. building to our present facilities in Glendale, California, housing over 150,000 sq. ft. I cannot but marvel at God’s goodness when I observe a million feet of tubing rolling through our Tube Mill in a month and producing over 3,000 baby products a day. This did not come about by any exhibition of genius on our part. It simply pleased God to bless some very ordi nary but dedicated men who dared to trust God.
perience imaginable. I walked from my bed to a window overlooking the San Fernando Valley. The magnifi cent sight that greeted my eyes was nothing short of a miracle. God had bathed the entire landscape in His marvelous love . . . the colors were magnificent. God seemed to say, “ There’s your big beautiful world . . . with Me as your partner, we’ll make yours a purposeful life together.” For the first time in my life I could say, “ Jesus, I love you.” Margaret and I were soon married and God blessed our home with a red headed boy. In 1939 we were to visit the World’s Fair in San Francisco. With all of our luggage and that of another couple, it was apparent that we would not have room in the trunk for the non-foldable baby stroller. It wound up tied conspicuously on the top of the car.
sary, to break down my resistance to Jesus Christ. She reasoned t ha t if ever I reached the age of 21 uncommitted to God, the chances would be greatly reduced of my ever being saved. She visualized my becoming independent, possibly owning my own car, and going my own way. Up to this point my dad’s law had been strictly ad hered to. “ If you want to use the family car on Friday and Saturday nights, you will have to come to Church with us on Sunday.” He didn’t seem to leave any room for argument. God, taking my mother at her word, permitted us to have an auto mobile accident two months before my twenty-first birthday. The car turned over and severely injured my mother—the only one of the six in volved in the accident who was hurt. When she learned she would be con fined in a cast for several months, she said, “Thank you, Lord, now I’ll having to do but pray for Arnold.” What faith ! Here I was a happy-go- lucky lad with the whole world at my doorstep. My favorite song was “ There’s a rainbow ’round my shoulder and it fits me like a glove, let it rain or shine, I don’t mind, ’cause I’m in love.” But in a strange and miraculous way, Jesus Christ broke through this cocky independent shell of mine one Sunday afternoon while I was cramming for a college exam. He seemed to place His loving hand on shoulder and in a tender voice say, “ Arnold, I love you.” I thought I had things pretty well settled in my own mind. I would live a respectable life, go to Church occa sionally and pay my respects to God, but certainly not this so-called “ total commitment.” At the same time a tune that Bing Crosby had made popular was buzzing through my mind, “ All of me, why not take all of me, can’t you see I’m no good without you?” It seemed God was using this secular song and saying, “ That’s it. I want all of you. Can’t you see you’re no good without Me?” At that moment every argument was gone. With all my heart I said, “ All right, God. You win.” A marvelous feeling of relief came over me as the heavy burden of guilt was lifted from my shoulders. I became a new creature in Christ. That evening I made a public con fession of Jesus Christ in a little Swedish Church in Pasadena. The next evening my beautiful fiance, Margaret Basolo, bewilderingly com mitted her life to Christ. The morning after my conversion God gave me the most wonderful ex
Following in his father's footsteps is Ronald E. Peterson, Sales Manager fo r the company, one o f the first to benefit from the genius of his father’s first product now known around the world as the FoldaRola. Margaret, a meticulous housekeep er, remarked, “ This looks ridiculous. Why doesn’t someone invent a baby stroller that will fold up and fit in side the trunk?” Being rather brazen and wanting to impress my lovely young wife, I boastfully prom ised to make one. Returning from the Fair, I promptly forgot all about it, until Margaret, becoming quite an noyed at breaking a fingernail trying to put the handle back on the non foldable stroller, reminded me of my promise. I was a building contractor then, but found time in the evenings to spend in my workshop trying to de sign a new stroller concept. It worked out fine up to a point, but I could not figure out a satisfactory folding mechanism. I became quite
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NOVEMBER, 1964
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