Loyal, outgoing: Pete Strom remembered for service to community

Sep. 30—TRAVERSE CITY — Pete Strom was a "dynamic doer," someone who acted on his love for both his family and his community, said Karen Strom, his wife.

That's how Karen said hopes people will remember her husband. She offered other words to remember her husband as well: gregarious, a "type A" personality, someone who loved to be around people and knew how to work a room.

"The thing that I think that I fell in love with was that Pete was loyal, he was loyal when there was nothing in it for him," she said. "He was loyal his whole life, loyal to the downtown, loyal to his friends, even when it wasn't convenient, he was loyal."

Pete Strom, a downtown business owner who served on the Grand Traverse County board of commissioners, died Sept. 23 at the age of 80 following a long illness, according to his obituary.

His son Michael said he remembers his father as someone who always wanted to make people smile.

"And he was always quick with a joke, and he was really in his element when he was with his friends and family," he said.

Those jokes were often groaners, Michael said, calling Pete the "king of dad jokes," possibly before they were called that.

Wayne Schmidt, a state senator who married Pete and Karen's daughter Catherine, said the joke was Pete was "as subtle as a trainwreck."

"You could see him down at Moe's telling a joke, having lunch with the regulars down there," Schmidt said. "I really enjoyed him as a father-in-law, he was a good guy."

Schmidt knew the Stroms from their running Hamilton's, then got to know them after he started dating Catherine in 1985, he said. Their relationship continued after Catherine died in a car crash.

Karen said the loss of their daughter was "like no loss you can possibly experience." Pete started handing out angel coins in Catherine's memory. She figures he must've bought hundreds of them and gave them out to waitresses, the mechanic who worked on his car — and so on.

Pete had an uncanny way of knowing when to give one to someone who needed it, Karen said. That was plain by the reactions of those who got them, and she's heard from several over the years who held onto theirs.

Born in Grinnell, Iowa, to the late Irwin and Mary Alice (Shriver) Strom on Sept. 4, 1942, Pete Strom graduated from Traverse City Central High School and attended Central Michigan University, according to his obituary.

After graduation, he married Karen, who said she started dating him in junior high.

"So we've known each other a long time," she said.

Pete and Karen both joined the Peace Corps and traveled to what was a part of Ethiopia, but is now Eritrea, she said. It was an eye-opening experience that showed the couple how people around the world are very much alike, something their travels over the years would prove.

He loved to visit Siesta Key in Florida, and Mexico's various resort zones, especially during winter. But he was probably happiest at the family's cabin on the Boardman River near Chum's Corner, Karen said.

As a longtime member of the Noon Rotary Club, Pete helped found what is now Rotary Charities of Traverse City after oil was discovered on club-owned land, Schmidt said.

Pete also served on Munson Healthcare's corporate board, on the original Munson Hospice Board and as a hospice volunteer, according to his obituary.

Schmidt remembered serving with Pete when they were both Grand Traverse County commissioners, crediting him with acting as a mentor. But he didn't think of Pete as a local politician as much as someone dedicated to serving their community in various ways.

Karen, who herself served as the county board's first chairwoman, said she believes Pete's mother had a big influence on him. She owned Hamilton's and served on a bank board long before women got involved in such things.

"She was a dynamo before really women had that role, and so that, I'm sure, influenced his community involvement, because it started really young," Karen said.

He passed that sense of service onto Michael, who recalled how for 32 years Pete was a regular among the Rotary Club volunteers cooking at the Northwest Michigan College barbecue. Michael helped from the age of 9 onward, and recalled starting at 5:30 a.m. and coming home reeking of buffalo burgers.

"He taught me maybe, service with a smile, and this is just what we do, you give back because you can and because it's fun," he said.

Pete served as a county commissioner from 1997 to 2006, when he opted not to seek reelection, as previously reported. He later served on the county's brownfield redevelopment board.

Some of Pete's decisions during his time in politics drew criticism, including his support in 2007 for millions in state brownfield funds for a parking ramp in downtown Traverse City's west end. That came despite a resounding citywide vote against the city borrowing money for the project months prior — the plan never came to pass.

Asked about the episode, Karen said she didn't recall it. As to how Pete took criticism of some of his decisions as a county commissioner and brownfield board member, she said she couldn't remember much. Politics were different back then, she said, noting that now it's a "mean game."

"I don't think the board was nearly as controversial as it is now, and so it was a different environment," she said.

Pete had vascular dementia in his final years, and while he was well-cared for during that time, it was tragic to see him "die by inches," as she described it.

"It's just a really difficult, long process," she said. "It's heart-wrenching, it really is."

She said people should know how much of a people-person Pete was — Michael said Pete was always the life of the party — and how much he wanted to give back.

Schmidt echoed this, saying people should remember how Pete "really cared."

"He cared about his family, he cared about the downtown and this community, and he really cared about his hometown," he said. "And he was, you know, committed to making sure that Traverse City and that everyone in Traverse City did well."

A full obituary of Pete Strom is set for a future edition of the Record-Eagle.