Pete the man with a world of good friends

It has taken me over a week to come up with what I wanted to say about Pete and though I've thought of a thousand memories I hope I can put a few of them together that will do justice to how good a friend he was to me. Pete was easily one of my absolute best friends and he gave me a lot over the 12 or so years I was fortunate enough to share with him. I first met Pete in high school our freshman year...having our names so close in spelling we sat next to each other in homeroom and half a dozen classes over our four years at Moeller. During the first two years we only talked a little but had a lot of laughs, as Pete was always a joker even then...by Junior year though we talked every morning in homeroom and became really good friends hanging out after school a ton as well... I remember a lot of conversations often about things we wanted to accomplish in our lives, college decisions (I think Pete always wanted to go to UD, so not much to decide there), major choices, where we wanted to live after college...etc. It wasn't always so serious of course but I always found Pete to be really sincere, honest, and deep. He had a lot of dreams and aspirations and we became such close friends because we shared a lot of the same goals and because we each found it so easy to discuss these types of real life ideas and experiences. Pete was one of the top people I went to for advice and I can remember several specific instances in which the advice he gave me really helped me out. I owe two other great friendships to Pete as well, Mark and Kurt who through Pete I met and spent most of high school, college, and to this day, hanging out with.

We had a ton of fun and memorable times together from friday morning breakfasts at Frischs senior year, our senior trip to Europe after high school, the infamous houseboat trips, celebrating our birthdays together (two days apart), weddings, and on and on. The last several years since college we still got together every other month or so and Libby and I especially looked forward to seeing Pete and Leigh even when in a larger group...I think its because we always had such great, meaniful, and hilarious conversations with Pete and because he was always so genuinley interested in everything that was going on in our lives...Pete was actually the most excited and congradulatory of all my friends when I told him we were pregnant this past January....he was always offering advice when needed, congratulations or support and always a laugh with his sarcastic wise cracks to keep things fun...which reminds me of something...I have another good friend who had met Pete several times over the years...in a conversation the friend once referred to Pete as "Sarcastic Pete" ...that has popped in my head almost everytime I have seen or talked to Pete since...he had a really unique sense of humor that once you understood was absolutely hilarious. Another story about Pete's humor came last summer...we were at a Pool party with Pete and Leigh...I had a surgery on my right shoulder about two years ago that left me with a pretty nasty looking scar...someone had asked me about it and I told them the techincal version of what it was, etc....Pete ever trying to make things brighter and more lighthearted...or at least comical...told me that from then on whenever I got asked about the scar I should instead tell this story: "this scar is from the day my best friend Pete saved my life...I was radomly shot by a passing by thug...Pete pulled the bullet from my arm with his bare hands and stitched me up on the spot...of course he didn't know what he was doing which is why the scar is so big but he saved me". It was funny to say the least and it has made me smile ever since when I get asked about the scar...I think it always will. Though Pete may have never "saved" my life, he certainly added so much to it and strenghten it in so many ways.

The last thing I wanted to say about Pete goes with a saying "You can tell a lot about a person by the people they associate themselves with". Well Pete was surrounded by the largest group of close friends of anyone I've ever known...not just aquantences, but good friends that he regularly talked with. I have always remarked to my wife how amaizing the sheer size of his circle of friends is and it truly says a lot about how great, how caring, how special Pete was that he has such a huge group of friends who are all such good, and caring people. It has been another of my great privelages to have met and known all of you through Pete over these years and I am so thankful to him for allowing me to make all of you my friends and add so much to my life.

Pete I will always carry with me the pieces of you that you have shared with me and I thank you for all these years of friendship, support, and laughs.

Love ya man!

Justin














Our birthdays this year - "White Trash Bash" surprise party my wife put together...Pete was always a snazzy dresser!