SPIRIT OF COMMUNITY TO PETERSONS

The day he presented them with the “Spirit of the Community” Award from the Owatonna Foundation, Chad Lange reminded people where Tom and Sue Peterson started.

“Like most entrepreneurs, they started out their enterprise at the bottom,” Lange said in his introduction.

In the Petersons’ case, it was literal: They started in the basement of their home, providing custom computer-aided design services.

In 1990, the lifelong Owatonna residents co-founded what is now Climate by Design International, then spent the next 35 years growing it into a national and international designer and manufacturer of custom desiccant dehumidifiers and air handlers.

Lange hesitated to describe the business to the crowd gathered to honor the couple: “Basically, it’s creating dry air,” he said, a vital process in the production of lithium batteries, health care, wastewater treatment plants and more.

In July, CDI was acquired by Modine, a global leader in thermal management technology headquartered in Racine, Wis. By then, the homegrown business was in a state-of-the-art facility of more than 203,000 square feet, with 230 employees.

“The Harvard Business School should feature the Petersons’ story in a case study on how to start and grow a business,” Lange said, “and how to create community value.”

The principles the couple lives by, he said, “should ring true with all of us, because they are values and traits we should all embrace and practice.”

Those include recognizing the value of a person; practicing and living your faith; focusing on one thing at a time; personalizing well-being; finding your niche in life; staying one step ahead; and adding value to everything you do.

Despite their business success, the Petersons “have never given any thought to locating the business elsewhere,” Lange said. “Owatonna is home.”

Sue Peterson is the daughter of Patsy and the late Vern White, who served as a trustee on the Owatonna Foundation Board.

His work in the community continues to be recognized annually by the Owatonna Noon Rotary Club’s Paul Harris/Vern White “Service Above Self” award.

“It was really his example that sowed a seed in our hearts,” Sue Peterson said. “It took root and grew, and really gave us a heart for Owatonna and a heart for giving, as well. He would be very proud to see us here today.”

Receiving the “Spirit of the Community” award was an honor, she said, “and it’s even more meaningful and humbling to do so among all of you – so many generous and committed people right here in this room.”

The Petersons, who have been married for 48 years, spoke of their strong faith.

“God is the foundation for our lives,” Sue said, “and any good that we can do is a result of his goodness and his grace – and he’s been very good to us.”

Tom Peterson called the Owatonna Foundation “a piece of the environment of this community.”

He and Sue are rereading the book “Atomic Habits.”

“We believe that our habits determine our outcomes, and our habits are being formed by the community that we surround ourselves with – the environment, if you will.”

They have been surrounded by manufacturing, Peterson said, “and there’s something in manufacturing that we call ‘work in process’ – the things that are on their way to becoming a completed project.

“Sue and I believe that we are a work in process,” he said. “We’re not a finished product. For years, we have been shaped by our life experiences, by the people of this community, the examples in our lives, the people that have gone before us – and the people in this room.”

They also believe in the vision of the Owatonna Foundation, the vision for a thriving community for all, now and in the future.

“We chose God to be the builder of our lives, placing our trust in him, and his path that he leads us on and continues to lead us on,” Tom Peterson said. “We believe that it’s his spirit that works in us and through us, and that provides the good things that we can do.

“You see, this award is not about us,” he said. “It’s about you. And every Owatonnan. You are the community. This belongs to all of you, and all the countless others in Owatonna who have generously contributed of their time, their passions, their love, their resources to make this community environment what it is.”

They are grateful, Peterson said, “to be recognized as part of this community, as part of you.

“And we pray that God would continue to bless Owatonna and may we all together continue to accomplish good things for the benefit of this community.”