Charles Pederson, of Montevideo, died on Tuesday, July 7, 2009 at the Luther Haven Nursing Home at the age of 82. Funeral services will be conducted on Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 1:30 P.M. at the Bergen Lutheran Church with Rev. Steve Weston officiating. Interment will be in the church cemetery. Visitation will be Monday afternoon and evening with the family present from 5 - 7 P.M. at the Anderson Funeral Home in Montevideo. Charles Gilmore Pederson was born on July 21, 1926 at his family home in Atchison County, Kansas, to Gustav and Caroline (Pederson) Pederson. He was baptized and confirmed at Zion Lutheran Church in Everest, KS, graduated from Huron High School in Huron, KS and attended Augsburg College in Minneapolis, MN after serving in the US Navy at the end of World War II. On April 17, 1948 he was united in marriage to Joyce Halverson in Elk Mound, WI. They lived in rural Everest and Robinson, KS before moving to a farm in Stony Run Township of Yellow Medicine County, MN in 1957. They lived in Granite Falls for two years after leaving the farm in 2006 and he was currently a resident of the Luther Haven Nursing Home. Charles was a long-time farmer and was active in Bergen Lutheran Church, having served in almost every position in the church, from Sunday School teacher to congregational chairman. He served on the Yellow Medicine Soil & Water Conservation District Board, as treasurer of the Stony Run Township Board and served on the Luther Haven Nursing Home Board, where he also did volunteer work. He loved to travel, especially with and to visit family and he cared deeply about land, water and other forms of conservation. He was also in a men's Bible Study for many years and sought to help others apply scripture to everyday life. He is survived by his wife Joyce; four sons: Dennis Pederson of Montevideo, Gary (and Gail) Pederson of Bemidji, MN, Dale (and JoAnn) Pederson of Granite Falls, MN and Eric (and Susan) Pederson of Orlando, FL; 15 grandchildren; 8 great-grandchildren; a brother, Homer (and Juanita) Pederson of Horton, KS; as well as by a number of nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents and a sister, Ruth Irene Torkelson.