Price Leo Winemiller

Our beloved Price Leo Winemiller, known to all as Pete, passed away on Friday, March 3, 2017 in Oklahoma City after a battle with brain cancer. Pete was born on February 18, 1957, at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska. He was the only son of Perry and Anne (Papich) Winemiller.

He graduated from Lakes High School in 1975 and Washington State University in 1980 where he was a member of Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity. It was during those years that Pete met and later married his best friend Cindy, his wife of 26 years. They were blessed with two wonderful daughters Hannah and Grace. All three were the greatest loves and joys of his life.

Pete built a career around events and entertainment where he enjoyed everything from event planning, sponsorship sales, ticket sales and ultimately guest relations. He worked for Seafair, the Portland Rose Festival, the American Heart Association, the Tacoma Daffodil Festival, The 1990 Goodwill Games, and The Paramount Theatre. For the past 20 years Pete was employed by the NBA working for the Seattle SuperSonics, which became the Oklahoma City Thunder where he was most recently the Sr. Vice President of Guest Relations. His professional life was shaped by each of these jobs and the excellent people with whom he had the privilege of working.

It was during his final job with the Sonics/Thunder where he designed and implemented a customer service, training program called CLICK. While simple in concept, this training program created a new level of excellence in the way basketball fans experience game night. Pete garnered several industry awards during his tenure with the team but none were more important than the friendships he cherished throughout his life.

Pete loved people. He loved talking, joking, teaching and engaging everyone he met in conversations that were often peppered with probing, thought provoking questions. Pete relished in entertaining his daughters, nieces and nephews with games, magic tricks, movie watching and spontaneous outings to get treats. An outing with Pete would inevitably be filled hilarious interactions with everyone along the way. The joy he brought to all will be so dearly missed.

Pete also loved the great Northwest where he learned to ski, mountain climb and take in the daily beauty of the Puget Sound near their home in Seattle. As an adventurer, Pete also had a fascination with professional car racing and reveled in the exhilaration of this high-speed sport.

Pete was a devoted husband, fun-loving dad, committed friend and follower of Jesus Christ. The family takes great comfort in knowing that Pete is living in the presence of his Lord and Savior.

Pete is survived by his wife, Cindy, daughters, Hannah and Grace, mother-in-law, Flor Acuff, sister-in-law, Jennifer Dahlquist (Steven), sister-in-law Connie Rey (Fred), nephews Jordan Dahlquist, Jonah Dahlquist, Josiah Dahlquist, Sergei Rey, Jonathan Rey and nieces Jenna Dahlquist and Rebecca Rey and numerous cousins.

A celebration of his life took place on Thursday, March 16, 2017, 1 pm at University Presbyterian Church. In lieu of flowers remembrances can be made to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society donate.lls.org, University Presbyterian Church, in Oklahoma, Make-A-Wish Foundation http://secure-web.cisco.com/16Sph8lIXfXgVXys4aqxT-aPi1shUUXqtNasiLWJsEBE79RsfeJl8MStim3YOOCY7y3MYGOdcMbLk7V90LupZ54ioN7wTaeG-T02GsSs-KAEIgvBpuO3cG2f3zQyuq73DDMrVd0uuN95tYJow1Me11Tvv0sNVxvjI808_VSxZHx-XCGqVdUGZ3U2NVeq3pm1TnhFXKuuC0JipIwWcqetE0CfE6EhRcAzVsr-upG5jmtGZhFMXVJJRdBWBiqyjqNgpDLzYICn17GwhrrCNLYk07g/http%3A%2F%2Fwww.oklahoma.wish.org, or Crossings Community Church

Arrangements under the direction of Acacia Memorial Park & Funeral Home, Seattle, Washington.