Jerry Cowger is 65 years of age, married for 45 years to his high school sweetheart, father of one daughter and grandpa to two, a boy and a girl.

He worked for John Deere Tractor Works in Waterloo, Iowa for 32 years; made the arts an important part of his life as a consistent hobby and with his wife, owned and operated “The Parsonage”, a fine arts and craft business for over 10 years. There they sold their own work and that of over 300 other artisans. He retired from John Deere in 1998; the same day he was accepted as a student in the sculpture program at the University of Northern Iowa, under the tutelage of Tom Stancliffe. He remains there still, now working in their Independent Study program, pursuing a life-long dream. He pushes toward excellence, honing the skill of his hands that they might follow the concept of the designs that are set upon his heart.