7th
Married October 27, 1979
Children
Matthew John, Timothy David, and Nicole Rose
John Thomas Zedler and Deborah Lou Rose
John attended Lomira Public School Kindergarten through eighth grade and graduated from Lomira High School in 1976.
Deborah, commonly known as Debbie, was born to Arlyn and Janet Rose, of Lomira, WI, in 1957. She was the youngest of three children and grew up on Mary Lane. During high school, she was a lifeguard at the Lomira Municpal Pool. She met John at the disco, "TJ's", in Fond du Lac, after high school and they started dating. During this time, she worked at the grocery store in Lomira, Al's Trading Post. John and Debbie dated for a year before falling in love... They Married in the fall of 1979.
Debbie remembers being afraid of moving out to the farm because she didn't know what to expect. Soon enough life got into a rhythm of taking care of the children and farming. Debbie was in charge of the farm's books and she would often help with field work, driving tractors, and caring for the calves.
John and Debbie took over the farm and incorporated in 1981 with the name Zedland Farm, Inc. At that time the corporation owned 174 tillable acres and another 80 acres were rented to support 80 head of dairy cows and heifers.
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In 1985 the family was presented a certificate signed by the governor of Wisconsin and a metal plaque for family farms that have been in the same family for at least 100 continuous years.
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The late 80's were hard for many farmers. In 1988 there was drought and the farm had to buy feed for their herd. Then the following year there was a flood and they couldn't plant the low lands so they had to buy feed again. In 1990 some registered breeding stock brought BVD on to the farm and within days the whole herd was sick and aborted their calves. The family rallied and soon Matt was old enough to begin working on the farm as well.
The Zedler's also bred Golden Retrievers on the farm. Their lovable golden Sassy had about 6 litters that helped pay for the kids tuition to WLA.
1999 was a pivotal year for the Zedler family. In August, John's father Lester passed away. The following month John wound up with a rare bacterial infection from a puncture wound in his foot and he was away from the farm for about a month. Unfortunately, this time they could not bounce back. They stopped milking and sold the dairy herd the following spring. Since retiring from farming John has been working as a cement driver for Lycon.
In 2009, Tim and Lisa bought half of the farm and John and Debbie were able to build a new house just a bit north of the homestead. For the next 10 years the family enjoyed opening the farm for fall activities, selling pumpkins and testing out more sustainable agriculture at a small scale.
When Tim and Lisa had their hearts set on converting the farm into a wedding venue John and Debbie were ready to start making a shift towards retirement. Matt and Erin bought the other half in 2019, but John and Debbie are still active on the farm. John still loves putzing on projects around the farm and bringing guests on hayrides. If you get him talking he'll share loads of more history in person. Debbie spends countless hours on the mower throughout the summer, is a wonderful source of encouragement and a great listener. We couldn't have gotten here without all of their love and support.