Pete Renkert

Pete Renkert, my best friend, fly fishing partner, sailing partner, and best husband a woman could ask for, died on May 21, 2021.

Having dined that Friday night at the Klondyke Cafe, the six of us laughing and enjoying a most delicious prime rib dinner. We finished, and headed to the car. Pete made it to the Klondyke entrance and fell over dead of a heart attack. He fell right behind a very kind woman who turned out to be an RN. She began performing CPR immediately spelled by a policeman, a regular at the Klondyke. If Pete had been savable those two would have made it happen.

We had a celebration of Pete's life on June 5, attended by more than a hundred people, held at our trout pond. The trout pond was surrounded by yellow water irises all in bloom. Peter's ashes were spread in the pond.

Pete, kindly wrote some obituary ideas that he filed in his "after I die" file.

Wife, Joanne; son, Tyler, 55, in 2021; daughter, Meredith, 49.

After 61 years since graduating from college, my nickname should be "Lucky Pierre" instead of “Renk." I was lucky enough to go to Princeton, lucky enough to have a great business career that combined my vocation with my avocation, and lucky enough to discover a wonderful life partner, and finally lucky enough to discover the perfect spot to retire to. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

After Princeton I spent six months in the Army National Guard eventually becoming a second lieutenant during my eight years of part-time service. In 1961, I began what would become 16 years in advertising and marketing. I had a sportsman's dream accounts such as Orvis and Smith and Wesson. In 1977, I left advertising for a new job. I became president of the fishing tackle division of what was then called Bead Chain Manufacturing Company. Yes, I had gone with a client.

1978 was my worst year as my marriage ended and one of my sons, Todd, was killed by a drunken driver. In 1981, I became a bachelor father when Tyler and Meredith came to live with me. It was a role that was both rewarding and a lot of fun. In 1985, I met a cute brunette at a single's sailing club. I hadn't sailed much since Princeton, but once again I was lucky. Our honeymoon in 1987 was an offshore sailing voyage from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. to Branford, Connecticut . We just ended our sailing in January 2021 when we sold the sailboat having logged more than 30,000 miles sailing together.

In 1988, a good friend and I purchased the fishing tackle division I was running (now three companies) and formed what we called The Tackle Factory. This umbrella included seven small companies. We waltzed with the elephants, selling K-Mart, Walmart, Cabela’s, and large wholesalers. We also became officers of the American Fishing Tackle Manufacturers Association.

In 1999, I sold out to my partner, and Joanne and I moved to a mountainside home in northern Idaho. Without leaving our 60 acres, you can hunt deer, moose, elk, bear, cougar, or (stocked ) pheasant, or catch a 15-pound trout that we raise in our pond. I have been vice president of the local chamber of commerce and president of the northern Idaho chapter of Trout Unlimited.

The kids are still in Connecticut, and have created four wonderful grandchildren.

Son, Tyler wrote a perfect closing. I will miss you so much, especially fly fishing with you in some random stream that no one ever heard of, full of trout so big you were tired from reeling them in! May your lines be tight, your hooks sharp, and your fly rod stay true as you cast into a perfect stretch of eternity's streams, and if anyone asks where you are I will just say, "He went fishing."