Last June Keith and Jan Olson celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary, and both say their life together has been blessed.

 

The couple began dating in 1975 after being introduced through friends while attending St. Cloud State University. Jan graduated with a teaching degree, and even though Keith still had a year to go before completing his restaurant business management degree, they became engaged.

 

He began working for Perkins Restaurant, and the couple married in 1978 after he graduated. The newlyweds decided to make St. Cloud their home; Keith is originally from Dassel and Jan from Wells.

 

Keith was working from 4 p.m. to 3 a.m. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and Jan was teaching during the weekdays. Realizing something was going to have to change if they were ever going to see each other, Jan quit teaching fulltime and went to work at the Perkins across town, although she continued substitute teaching and coaching volleyball.

 

In 1979 Keith accepted a manager position in Fort Collins, Colorado and helped open two Perkins in the area. Continuing her food service career also, Jan managed a McDonald’s.

 

In 1980 Jan became pregnant with their first child. Wanting to be closer to their family, the couple moved back to St. Cloud in May 1981; their son Jacob (Jake) was born that June. Daughter Andrea followed in 1983. In 1986 hey bought a home three miles outside of Clear Lake where they still reside today.

 

After moving back to Minnesota, Keith continued working for Perkins, this time in Sauk Rapids, while Jan worked at a variety of jobs. 

 

Life continued that way until 1987, when Keith got the idea to buy the Town’s Edge Café on Hwy 10 after he saw it was up for lease. He went into partnership with Diane Reed, and asked Jan if she wanted to try running the café. She had a week’s vacation coming and decided to try it out. Enjoying the work, she went into business with Reed at the café while Keith continued at Perkins. 

 

A few years later she bought Reed out and ending up owning Towns Edge Café for 15 years.

 

In the meantime, Keith had started working at the Clearwater Travel Plaza in 1989, where he was VP of food and beverage for 11 years before losing his job.

“It was the hardest thing we went through as a couple,” said Jan. “Because what happens to one happens to the other.”

 

Keith didn’t let it get him down for long however. In 2001, he began his next venture almost next door to the Travel Plaza after purchasing The Old Kettle restaurant and rebranding it as Keith’s Kettle.

 

“It was crazy,” said Keith. “For three, four years we overlapped restaurants. On Sundays Town’s Edge was closed, so Jan would come in and help out at Clearwater.”

 

He was talked into putting his face on the restaurant’s sign, which led to putting his face on a billboard along I-94. He was told it would be good for business because everyone knew who he was.

 

“It was embarrassing at first to see my face,” said Keith. “But it turned out to be the best marketing move I ever made.”

 

Jan eventually sold Town’s Edge Café and became Keith’s Kettle’s kitchen manager.

 

“Everyone said, ‘Don’t work with your wife,’” Keith laughed. “But if you stay married for 40 years you learn a few tricks.”

 

The two worked together for over 10 years, until they eventually sold the restaurant in 2015.

 

They didn’t stay idle for long.

 

“He couldn’t not work,” said Jan. “He’s such a people person.”

 

“It was tough,” said Keith. “I missed the customer relationships. They were friends.”

 

Keith now works part-time at Sam’s Club in St. Cloud and volunteered at the hospital for a year. Jan returned to working with the children’s program at Discovery Church, which she had been involved with for over 20 years. This past fall, she also began working as a food server at Sartell High School. 

 

“It’s a partnership,” said Jan, when asked how they have stayed together for so long. “He helps me and I help him. We don’t take each other for granted.”

 

“We’re still in love,” said Keith. “I think our Christian faith has helped, and I think you need to have fun together. You also need to talk to each other.”

 

“He’s the most patient man,” said Jan. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him mad or angry, I don’t think he has a mean bone in his body. I’m the one who gets frustrated.”

 

“Forty-two years I’ve been with her and I’ve never heard that,” said Keith. “It’s really cool to know someone has your back.”

 

The couple celebrated their 40th anniversary with an Alaskan cruise, and plan to travel and see the rest of the country in their “retirement.”