NanciNet Digest 7-20-02
// This digest commemmorates our friend Bill Peete.
// Information regarding the funeral is provided, as is the obituary.
// Several folks who have known the Peetes for many years also have
// provided remembrances.
// If you would like the Peete's address for cards and letters, send me
// a private note at bpage3@earthlink.com [BP]
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Subject: NN: Message from Sue Peete
Date: Fri, 19 Jul 2002 21:38:57 -0700
From: "Susan Krauss" (susankrauss@earthlink.net>
I talked to Sue Peete again this evening. She asked me to thank everyone
for their prayers and thoughts. I promised to print everything out for her.
Bill's funeral will be in Santa Cruz on Tuesday, July 23rd @ 2PM. I'll post
an address for those who want to attend or send flowers in a bit. I'll also
post an information for those who want to make a donation in Bill's name -
Sue would like donations to go to Candlelist - the Organ Transplant fund for
Maggie Heenie. I want to make sure I have the current information for those
donations before I post anything.
Again, Sue wanted me to be sure to thank everyone for their kindnesses.
susan
susankrauss@earthlink.net
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Subject: NN: Bill Peete's Funeral
Date: Sat, 20 Jul 2002 13:54:06 -0700
From: "Susan Krauss" (susankrauss@earthlink.net>
Bill's funeral will be Tuesday, July 23rd at 2pm at the Oakwood Memorial
Chapel. The funeral home is Pacific Gardens Chapel but their chapel is
under renovation so they're using Oakwood.
If you'd like to send flowers, they should go to:
Pacific Gardens Chapel
1050 Cayuga Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95062
There will be service in the chapel and then a short service at the grave
side.
I'll info for charitable donations in soon.
susan in alameda
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Subject: NN: Bill Peete's Obituary
Date: Sat, 20 Jul 2002 14:45:00 -0700
From: "Susan Krauss" (susankrauss@earthlink.net>
Here's Bill's obituary from the San Jose Mercury News (7/20/2002):
**********************************
William Wellman Peete
PEETE, William Wellman-- Services will be Tuesday for William Wellman Peete
who died July 18, 2002 in San Jose from injuries sustained after being hit
by a vehicle while riding his bicycle. He was 50.
Born Memphis, Tennessee. He was raised in Southern California, moved to San
Jose in 1975 and to Scotts Valley in 1984. He has worked many years as an
electronic design engineer, most recently employed by Linear Technologies
Corp.
He was an avid bicyclist and participated in bicycle races. He enjoyed
listening to music, playing the guitar and riding his Harley Davidson
motorcycle.
He is survived by his wife of 30 years, Susan C. Peete of Scotts Valley;
son, Colin D. Peete of Santa Cruz; daughters, Carly A. Denham of San Jose
and Tammy L. Peete of Scotts Valley; father, Russell F. Peete, Sr., of
Tucson, AZ; brother, Russell F. Peete, Jr., of Santa Cruz; sister, Miriam
Klass of New Hampshire and one grandson, Christopher J. Denham.
Services will be held at Oakwood Chapel, 3301 Paul Sweet Rd., Santa Cruz,
CA, Tuesday, July 23, at 2 p.m. Arrangements are by PACIFIC GARDENS CHAPEL,
Santa Cruz, CA. Contributions are preferred to the National Transplant
Foundation for Maggie Heenie.
Published in the San Jose Mercury News on 7/20/2002.
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Subject: NN: Remembering Bill Peete
Date: Sat, 20 Jul 2002 13:42:51 -0500
From: "Sherry Ferguson" (sher@jump.net>
Bill and Sue Peete. These two have been the heart of the NanciNet
since the beginning. Their devotion to the music and their fellow fans
has been boundless and inspiring to those who were lucky enough to
know them. They've been truly the nicest of the "nicest people on
the Net."
We have many happy memories of hanging with Bill and Sue. They
traveled thousands of miles on their Flyer, a Nanci fan's dream Harley,
to festivals in places like Colorado and Texas where we and many
other NanciNetters met them and had a fantastic time. It was Nanci
who attracted us to events like the Kerrville and Rocky Mountain
Folk Festivals and her concerts in Austin; it was folks like Bill and
Sue whom we remember best. They are certainly the sweetest
people we've ever known.
Just the thought of Bill and Sue always brings a smile. The image
that always comes to mind is the two of them on the Flyer, Bill at the
helm and Sue's lovely hair flowing in the Texas wind. It remains . . .
So much love to you, Sue. Our hearts and prayers are with you and
your children.
With heaviest of hearts,
Mark and Sherry Ferguson
Austin, Texas
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Subject: NN: Remembering Bill
Date: Sat, 20 Jul 2002 11:06:46 -0500
From: Shelly Brisbin (shelly@brisbin.net>
The news of Bill's passing has left me stunned and saddened. Bill was
one of the kindest, most enthusiastic people I've ever known.
I am one of those fortunate NanciNetters who had the pleasure of
knowing Bill Peete, both through this list, and during the years my
husband and I lived in California. We last saw Bill in March when he
and Sue came to Austin to see Denice Franke and Doug Hudson play
together as Hudson and Franke for the first time in 20 years. (You
may know that Sue runs Denice's Web site.) We had dinner with Bill
and Sue and then went to the Cactus Cafe to see the show. Bill asked
me if I had a copy of the 20-year old Beacon City Band record that
Denice and Doug had burned to CD just for this show. I said I didn't,
but that I would pick one up afterwards. After intermission, Bill
returned to our table (up front, of course) with an autographed CD in
his hand. I offered to pay him, but he wouldn't take my money. I'm so
very glad my husband and I bought dinner that night.
Frank and I used to meet Bill and Sue at concerts in the Bay area. We
would arrive an hour or two early, only to find Bill and Sue camped
at the front of the line, chatting with everyone around them. We had
the pleasure of sharing space on the grass with the Peetes at several
RMFFs, at the Britt in Oregon, and, of course, Kerrville. By the
time of last year's RMFF, Frank and I had decided to make the
festival an annual event, as Bill and Sue had already done. Knowing
that we would see them each August had a lot to do with our deciding
to take the same trip every year.
The Bill memory that came to me first yesterday involves
peppers--very hot peppers. In Lyons, where the RMFF is held each
year, there is a German-themed restaurant, Andrea's. It's become
tradition that our group walks there each morning for breakfast after
securing spots in the field for the day's music. When we sat down at
Andrea's on the first morning last year, I noticed that Bill had
taken a little bottle from his bag. He poured some of the contents on
his eggs and passed it around. The bottle contained habanero pepper
sauce. Habaneros are the hottest peppers there are, thank you very
much. Sue explained that Bill always carries his bottle of hot sauce,
and Bill encouraged everyone to try it. He assured us that hot sauce
is yummy on everything. And those of us eating pancakes believed it
because Bill said it.
I could go on and on about Bill: we are bicyclists, too, and Bill
took a great interest in our tandem bike. He loved to share his
musical discoveries and strongly encouraged me to buy certain CDs,
even coming into Waterloo Records with me to make sure I could find
the one he thought I should have;-)
Bill's passing leaves a hole in my heart, and my prayers go out to
Sue and her family. It was clear to all that Bill&Sue, the couple,
were truly life partners, and complemented and inspired one another.
This is truly a sad and devastating time for her, I know, and I hope
we can all find ways to support and comfort her.
-shelly in Austin
I'm crying too
PS.
Of the many, many contributions Bill made to the NanciNet, one of the
best-remembered (I think someone mentioned it yesterday) is his "Road
to Kerrville" series from 1996. I thought I would give you a link to
these posts, as well as some rather poorly done Web pages of mine,
featuring remembrances of the first NanciNet gathering that happened
that year. Bill's notes are not at the comp of these digests, so
search for "Road to Kerrville" or just read the whole digest for a
bit of nostalgia. Enjoy.
http://brisbin.net/Nanci/archives/1996/96606.html
http://brisbin.net/Nanci/archives/1996/96609.html
http://brisbin.net/Nanci/archives/1996/96611.html
http://brisbin.net/Nanci/archives/1996/96719.html
http://brisbin.net/Nanci/kv/cover.html
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Subject: NN: Son(g)s of Friendship
Date: Sat, 20 Jul 2002 11:28:24 -0700 (PDT)
From: Deb Thornton (timpcoyote@yahoo.com>
The historic Warfield Theatre on Market Street in San
Francisco was a stop of the Flyer tour. I flew out,
appropriately, for the show and a visit with old
friends gone to Berkeley. We sat at round tables,
ordered dinner, waited, then listened, within spitting
distance of Miss Griffith and the Blue Moon Orchestra.
That night I heard, for the first time one of two
songs I've always wanted to hear Griffith perform
live, "There's a Light Beyond Those Woods," sent up to
Mary Margaret herself, somewhere in the house. Her
voice caught on, "We'll still be the best of friends,
the three of us." I don't know if it was Maggie's
presence--and John's absence--that made Griffith sing
that song even better than the two-track recording, if
the miles and roads of intervening years had sweetened
the song and deepened the friendship. Possibly, a
fusion of time and place and people occurred in the
singing's present tense, and the song was simply given
in that moment, as it was, and it was full.
Sated, elated, elevated, I recall leaving the halflit
historic Warfield feeling rather like an Oreo, the
pallor of my Welsh fishing sweater sandwiched black
leather jackets. Behind me were my friends; in front
of me was a man wearing a decorous Harley-Davidson
jacket.
That night I tucked my copy of Last of the True
Believers into their cd collection, but I had to trade
it for a new one a few weeks later because I missed
the "backwards pressing" of my copy so much that I
couldn't get used to listening to it as the author
intended. Life cycles: we give and we retrieve and
give again the present, the gift.
Years later, through the mystery of the etheric web
that weaves us all together in this community, the
wearer of the Harley jacket became known to me, became
a wonderful friend, always warm and generous and
perpetually smiling. Over the years, I came to know
him as a kindred soul, accompanied by his equally
lovely wife; "Two for the road" are they--ever the
high road. You will never find two more compassionate
and generous souls, so well matched. I met Bill and
Sue at a NanciNet gathering in Lyons, Colorado, and
they became instant friends and have blessed my life
ever since. Their custom Harley was dubbed the Flyer,
and they radiated a spirit of freedom and being,
honesty and goodness. We gathered such places as
Atlanta, Telluride, Snowbird, and Salt Lake for talk,
meals, and music.
I cannot resist telling a little story on Bill. On
Thursday afternoon a friend was persuading me to take
music lessons, and I thought instantly of Bill Peete,
who arose early every morning to play guitar, but
privately. Privately. So no one else could hear,
really. But for the pure joy of playing. I smiled,
thinking of joining the secret order of private guitar
players, secreted in the house, strumming like a
madwoman. I recalled that one of my life's goals was
to hear Bill Peete play guitar, and looked forward to
the prospect of seeing them in a few weeks.
Twenty-four hours later came the shocking news of his
death, and a flood of grief.
When Bill and Sue came through Salt Lake every summer
on the venerable Flyer, we went to Bill and Nada's, an
old-fashioned ice cream parlor and grill that hadn't
changed a jot in its almost half-century. The
horseshoe-shaped counter was the proud centerpiece,
the overstuffed booths sported small shiny metal juke
boxes that still worked; the decor, if you could call
simplicity and cleanliness that, never changed. The
staff wore the same fifties-style polyester uniforms
year after year, utterly without self-consciousness.
The place never closed except on Thanksgiving and
Christmas, and every kind of character dropped in. I
was there at midnight one December 23, exhausted and
hungry, 48 miles from home with a snowy drive ahead of
me. The waitress was alternately hustling me out the
door into the cold and offering me free cokes and
slabs of pie.
They were so unused to closing that it made them
nervous, flighty. While the cook toyed with the front
door locks, the waitress fixed brown bag meals so that
Jimmy, who was never far from Bill and Nada's, would
have something to eat until 6 a.m. December 26. "Six
in the morning, Jimmy, we'll see you then, and Merry
Christmas." He'd have to get his coffee at 7-11, a
distressing prospect for Jimmy and the waitress.
Bill and Nada's was as timeless and steady as any true
friendship, and so it was only fitting to go there
with Bill and Sue, who love banana splits--the messier
the better. The best of friends, three of us, were
there within days of the place's final closing. A
small notice on the counter said that Bill and Nada
had made a pact that when one of them died, the other
one would close the place, and so it was to be. Every
closing seems untimely.
Last August the Peetes came through on the Flyer and
we dined outdoors at Market Street Grill on a stormy
night and later feasted on Caramel Conquistdores. We
got caught up, told stories, and drew the evening out
as long as possible. Back at the hotel, the Flyer had
gotten wet in the storm, and I pulled a towel and
blanket out of my car to help dry her leather seats
and shine her up, and gave the Peetes one last hug
farewell, those long limbs opening wide and full and
closing around.
To know Bill Peete is to share music: Nanci Griffith,
Kate Campbell, Carole King, Denise Franke, Nina
Gerber, Eddie from Ohio, the Nields. To see him
tipping and stretching tall at Telluride, trying to
peer into Nanci Griffith's burgundy travel palace. To
partake of his generosity over salmon dinners, red
wine, and banana splits. To receive gifts of cds and
concert tickets in the mail. To know his soul link
with Sue and hers with him. To visualize them
Harleying across the west hoping to avoid bee stings.
To chase all
over Salt Lake because Bill had seen Victoria
Williams' band mates in the hotel parking lot, and
later that evening to discover that remarkable
songwriter live at a local venue. To see the light in
his eyes and his toothy grin. To celebrate a
friendship that never closes, that loves without
judgment. To feel the joy of a life fully lived and to
know a heart fully loved and loving, sharing the music
of his soul.
God bless you, Bill, flown aloft to your true home;
God bless you, Sue; you'll know his soul again.
With love,
Deb Thornton
I'm going to live my life
Like every day's the last
Without a simple goodbye
It all goes by so fast
And now that you're gone
I can't cry hard enough
No I can't cry hard enough
For you to hear me now.
Victoria Williams
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Subject: NN: Remembering Bill Peete
Date: Sat, 20 Jul 2002 18:43:59 EDT
From: BMiller224@aol.com
Like others on the Nancinet and the Kate Campbell Moonpie list (I'm posting
this to both), I knew Bill Peete personally.
And like others have already related, I also have good memories of him, many
of them in connection with music events of some kind.
But all I can really think of to say is that a good man has left the world.
And it's a terrible thing. And I will miss him.
I join everyone else in expressing my deepest sympathy to Sue and their kids.
Thanks to Susan Krauss for keeping us posted on the arrangements. I looked
up the *San Jose Mercury* obituary she mentioned and I thought I would
include the URL link for anyone who might wants it. There is an online guest
book there to leave messages of condolence:
http://www.legacy.com/bayarea/LegacySubPage2.asp?Page=GuestBookSavedEntry&PersonId=410374&GuestNo=1
Bruce Miller
Oakland CA
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Subject: NN: Nanci on TV
Date: Fri, 19 Jul 2002 22:32:44 -0700
From: "Susan Krauss" (susankrauss@earthlink.net>
I know I've posted a ton today and I apologize but I just had to say
this....I was watching the Giants baseball game and decided to flip through
the cable guide on TV to see what was on. I hit the Ovation network and
there it was - Nanci on TV. I turned it on in the middle of "Wall of
Death." It just seemed so fitting on this day especially. Now she's
singing with Dave Van Ronk, also lost this year.
Nanci brought us all together and Nanci's the reason I met Bill & Sue Peete
in the first place. Nanci's singing tonight and I'm crying.
susan in alameda
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Subject: NN: Bill Peete's Passing
Date: Sat, 20 Jul 2002 08:55:30 -0400
From: "James Troiano" (James_Troiano@umit.maine.edu>
I am absolutley devasted at Bill's passing. I met Bill and Sue only once in
Atlanta and knew that I had met two truly special people. They have done so
much for Nanicnuts with their fabulous websites. Just the other day I received
a mesage from Bill asking if I wanted to add a picture to my lsting in Friends
Out in the Madness.
Sue I am so very sad and Wendy and i grieve with you. Whenever I hear Nanci's
Two for the Road I think of you both.
Love, Jim
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Subject: NN: RE: NanciNet supplement 020719
Date: Sat, 20 Jul 2002 15:34:29 +0100
From: "Robert Kennedy" (bobbyk@esatclear.ie>
Hi All,
In regard to the untimely and sad death of our fellow nancinetter Bill
Peete, I'd just like to echo the sentiments of Peter Robinson in saying that
I never had direct contact with him, but like many on here, I felt in some
small way a part of a family to which he and all the rest of us belonged.
Sad times indeed. I would like to send my heartfelt condolences to Sue and
to all of their family.
Bobby Kennedy
Dublin, Ireland
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Date: Sat, 20 Jul 2002 09:54:28 -0700 (PDT)
From: parrotboy 3682 (parrotboy3682@yahoo.com>
Subject: William Pete's Passing
not sure who this needs to go to...
i am sorry to hear of your loss. although i did not
know the family, i know that several Nanci netters
have sent me kind notes, especially after 9/11.
thank you for being part of such am amazing community that
i am sure shares in your loss
-respectfully
-nicholas
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Subject: Re: NN: very very sad news
Date: Sun, 21 Jul 2002 19:41:08 +0100
From: "Dean Akrill" (dakrill@fish.co.uk>
Hello,
I've been in hiding for a while, but I have to say how sorry I was to hear
about Bill. Of course, I never met Bill, but for me he was part of this
beautiful community.
Love and Prayers to Sue and her family.
Dean.
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