The Infantryman

“Gillespie, Gillespie, Gillespie,” I was walking off of the basketball court at Clarksville one night back in 2008, when I was an assistant at Dunkerton, when I heard my name being yelled from our opponents side. I didn’t want to make eye contact with the person because I figured some grandfather thought we had run the score up on them.

Finally, because of the man’s diligent yelling, I turned to look at him and there was Pete Sinram. He had on his old crooked grin and he reached out and shook my hand. What a pleasure it was to see him again. Pete was the father of my friend Mike Sinram. Pete passed away Sunday at the age of 89 and what a life he lived. If anything, what an adventure he lived.

Pete was born in Clarksville, excluding several adventures along the way he spent his life there. Pete was employed as a Bridgeman for the Northwest Railroad until he joined the U.S. Army. Four days before he joined he married his wife Norma.

While in WWII was in the Infantry where he saw action in Italy and North Africa, he was bound for Japan just before President Truman dropped the Atom Bombs. Pete then returned home and returned to the Railroad before joining his dad and brother in running the family bar. That family bar, Pete and Shorty’s would become a chain with places in Texas, Florida, and Nevada. At the funeral home I saw a plant from one of the restaurants in Florida.

Pete loved to fish and hunt. He would always come to one of our cross country meets in Oelwein, and before or after the meet he would go trout fishing at Backbone State Park. I can remember Mike and I talking about how we would like to go with him. He loved to duck hunt and play golf and it was rare that he did not have a cigar. I thought of my dad often when I would see Pete with one.

In 2009 Pete went on the Honor Flight to Washington DC, receiving the tribute that he and countless other men from his generation deserved.

To live my life with the passion that Pete Sinram lived his life is my dream.