In Memory of Pete

Pete Page was a Zen Master with machines of all kinds: from European motorcycles to washing machines and vacumme cleaners. He could make anything run!

Pete Page passed away this month after suffering a stroke and he will be missed by the many who knew him in this community. He was a quiet soft-spoken man and like many, I had brought my problems to him to fix for many years without ever really knowing him. An opportunity to interview him last year changed that. I was doing a piece on motorcycles and the adventure of the road when someone said I should talk to Pete.

“Who ?”, I asked?  “You know. The guy next door. The guy who fixes the washing machines,” my friend said as if I was daff for asking. “Oh, you mean THAT Pete? Washing Machine Pete? That guy??”

“Yeah,….,”my friend said. ” THAT guy…is an amazing guy.”

So after nearly 15 years of living in Globe and depending on Pete; this tall lanky, soft spoken guy with a shop on Broads Sreet who helped me stretch out the life of my washer by many years, I went to talk to him about his life and how he ended up in Globe. It was published in the GlobeMiamiTimes just last summer. I’m re-posting it here in memory of Pete. and his most remarkable life. ” … Continue Reading

They Cast A Mighty Light: Carbide Mining Lamps

After the California Gold Rush of ’49, and the relative easy pickin’s of gold dried up in streams and riverbeds, prospectors went after precious minerals found in veins running deep underground. Hard rock mining, requiring engineers and big money, soon followed and much entrepreneurial capital was set upon the task of reaching the mineral wealth post haste! The need to shed light on the darkness created an industry, and left a legacy. … Continue Reading