IG news Update,
Glen McLean says her last trip with her husband, Randy Pedersen, was her favorite.
The two had traveled to every continent together, and just before the pandemic, they had visited Antarctica.
“Seeing his face, it was like seeing a little child,” McLean said Friday, recalling the visit.
Pedersen died last weekend at the age of 60 after a long illness.
McLean will miss his big smile.
The couple lived together for 37 years and spent almost all of their time together, first as co-owners of the Japan Camera Center store, then as co-founders of JavaMoose Coffee Roasters, which began in 1995.
McLean said Pedersen loves animals and people and has supported both for more than a decade through the Harbor Lights campaign in St. John’s, which is organized in partnership with the CBC.
For the annual campaign, they will produce a Harbor Lights mix, the proceeds of which will go towards food banks and the St. John SPCA Animal Rescue.
“Every year it was like, ‘Okay, we’ve got to do this, we’ve got to do this, let’s make sure we take care of people,'” McLean said. “And he did.”
McLean and Pedersen met in Toronto and moved to St. John’s in the mid-1980s to own a camera store together. McLean is originally from Cornwall, Ontario, and Pedersen is from Surrey, BC. are from
love for the people of st johns
After selling the store, he chose coffee as his next venture, an idea Pedersen was passionate about.
“Because it was social, it was meeting people, it was fun,” McLean said. “It was – you didn’t take yourself so seriously. And that was really important.”
And it was important to Pedersen to pursue this venture in St. John’s.
“He was loved by the people of the city,” McLean said. And they loved her back.
“I think people were attracted to him because he was genuine.”
Heather Gillis met McLean and Pedersen as a teenager working at McAllister Place Mall, where the camera store was located. A few years after the pair launched JavaMoose, Gillis joined the staff.
Gillis said Pedersen had a way of making people feel connected to him.
“He remembered everything about people, like he remembered your name, he only had to meet you once, and he knew you, and he’d remember a personal detail about you,” she says.
Pedersen was also an excellent cook, giving her recipes when they were married, including one she used this week.
“The world is going to miss him,” she said.
adventure life
One of McLean’s favorite memories with Pedersen comes from the first trip they took together.
It was 1986 and he was in Paris. With $500 between them, they thought they had more than enough for two weeks of loitering around town.
But after spending $100 on a cab ride, he realized he needed a different plan.
“Suddenly, we were bohemians wandering the streets of Paris,” McLean said. “Eating baguettes and cheese and maybe more than a glass of wine.”
Together, McLean and Pedersen traveled the world, from traditional vacation spots like the Caribbean to destinations for more experienced travelers like Russia.
Every year they would try a new place. His last trip included a stop at the Iguazu Falls on the border between Brazil and Argentina.
The falls had special significance for Pedersen, as it was the location for the shooting of the 1986 film Target, Which tells the story of 18th century missionaries in South America.
“he loved Target, they liked the music of TargetMcLean said.
The score was by the great Italian composer Ennio Morricone, and McLean downloaded it on his phone for the trip.
“I turned it on because we’re seeing all this water fall into these ravines, it was like, ‘Oh, this is just phenomenal.’