Harold and Jacquie Petersen are KHTS AM-1220’s June Unsung Hero for their commitment to giving back to their community and their love for each other.

KHTS AM-1220 chooses each Unsung Hero based on residents contributions and involvement in the Santa Clarita community.

Both Harold and Jacquie are from Iowa, and moved to the Santa Clarita Valley 15 years ago.

“We’ve had a lot of fun living in the Santa Clarita Valley,” Jacquie said. “It’s clean and nice.”

Harold went to UCLA, majoring in Journalism, but found a passion in insurance sales and has owns his own business, Petersen International Underwriters for more than 40 years.

Harold fondly remembers his and Jacquie’s beginnings, saying that he met and fell in love with Jacquie in the summer of 1946.

They have one daughter and three sons together. Their children are all married, and combined, they have 10 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

Although Jacquie is recognized in Santa Clarita as an important community member, and is often praised for her involvement, she refers to herself with a different title.

“I am Harold Petersen’s housekeeper,” joked Jacquie, adding, “I have been very loved by a very wonderful man.”

Harold was nominated by the Child & Family Center/ Child & Family Center Foundation for the 2015 Santa Clarita Valley Man and Woman of the Year Award.

“It is impossible to adequately state how important and impactful Harold Petersen’s contributions to Child & Family Center have been,” stated the biography. “His strong yet quiet advice has been invaluable to growing our annual fund through major gifts, and his philanthropic generosity has meant that hundreds of young people have received the care they need to deal with their anxiety, traumatic life experiences and other emotional disabilities.”

In March of 2009, Dr. Dianne Van Hook presented the Petersen’s with the Silver Spur award.

“As I reflect on the Petersen’s, and their impact on our community, I am impressed by their commitment to making our valley a better place to live, and more importantly, their commitment to people,” said Dianne Van Hook. “Especially each other.

“Their enduring marriage is a story of romance and devotion spanning six decades, with love reaching through three generations,” Hook said. “Those all-important family bonds extend into their business too.”

Jacquie and Harold have been heavily involved in the local non-profits.

“Together, Harold and Jacquie have also established an enduring legacy of service,” Hook said. “A complete record of the organizations they have helped through the years is too numerous to mention here. But whether it was the Junior League, or the Junior Chamber of Commerce, the American Heart Fund, the American Cancer Society, or the American Red Cross, the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, or the Boys and Girls Club, Harold and Jacquie have demonstrated their willingness to serve and lend a helping hand time and again.”

About Petersen International Underwriters

Harold Petersen grew up outside the small town of Council Bluffs, Iowa. When Harold was just a boy, his father became afflicted with a chronic condition causing pain in his back which lasted for years, and resulted in total disablement and the loss of the family’s dairy farm. The Petersen family struggled financially for many years as W. Harold Petersen witnessed the horrors of disability, and experienced its widespread effects first-hand. He has made it his lifelong goal to make certain that his story echoes throughout the insurance world. He has vowed to help as many people as possible in protecting their incomes against the devastating effects of unforeseen disablement.

With that purpose in mind, Petersen International Underwriters markets its products through licensed insurance professionals, helping them realize the crucial fact that to have one’s income underinsured is as dangerous as not being insured at all. Eventual financial ruin is the ultimate outcome. Through education, training and marketing support, PIU reaches-out to all insurance advisors, providing them with the proper tools to help their clients protect their hard-earned paychecks.

Petersen International Underwriters is licensed in all 50 states, Washington D.C. and Canada. Not all products are available in all states or countries.