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Note: School and Wabasha High School to 5th grade. As a boy he was employed at Chambelains pool room, on the boats along the Mississippi and for Wabasha Plainer Mill. He had several delivery boy jobs and later worked as an electrician for Herman Yost.
He enlisted in the navy, along with his brother Ignatius. He was a Bosun's mate and was on a ship that went to England, off the coast of Germany, and to France. When he returned home to Wabasha after the service, he married Emma Brown.
Pete and his brother got an idea for a battleship that would operate more efficiently and at greater speeds. The design involved a concical bow that would rise up instead of plowing through the water. It was a similar concept to what is used on aircraft carrier's today. With money borrowed from their mother, they built a prototype with a working engine. It was about 5 feet long and made out of steel. They worked out some kind of deal at the steel yard to get it done. They tried it out in a tank or pond near Lake Pepin and the Navy sent someone out to see. The Navy was interested in the concept, but wanted them to build a larger protoype that could be manned and tried out on a larger body of water. When Pete asked his mother for more money, she refused him. He got angry with her, packed up his wife and kids and moved to Washington State.
At one time, he ran for governor of the State of Washington. He was appointed "Distinguished Democrat" by the Secretary of the State of Washington on June 17, 1963. In his later years, he lobbied for the rights of older citizens.
Note: Peter's father died before he was born. He attended St. Felix Parochial
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