Oscar "Pete" Bernard Peterson Jr.

Pete was born on Friday, March 13, 1936 to Oscar Bernard Peterson Sr. and Esther Wilhelmina Anderson Peterson. Pete was a proud, lifelong Austinite, attending University Junior High and graduating from Stephen F. Austin High School, where he played football and baseball.

Pete graduated from Texas Lutheran University, where he played both football and baseball and was one of the “Kramer Boys.” Pete remained involved in Texas Lutheran athletics throughout his life.

In the Spring of 1962, while Pete was coaching at McCallum High School, a University of Texas co-ed was assigned to McCallum to complete her student teaching. Pete winked at that co-ed her first day at McCallum, and the rest is history. Pete married Patsy Kelley, the love of his life, on August 17, 1962. They were married and inseparable for 60 years until her death in 2023.

Pete spent the first six years of his marriage to Patsy coaching the McCallum High School football and baseball teams. The young men from these teams, and many of Pete’s students have remained in his life to this day.

On September 24, 1965, and the day of a McCallum football game, Pete and Patsy were blessed with a daughter, Pamela Lynn Peterson.

In 1967, Pete was named Head Football Coach at McCallum High School. At the time, he was the youngest person to be named as Head Coach in AISD history.

After his time coaching, which Pete dearly loved, he spent over fifty years in insurance and employee benefits consulting. He spent many years at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas handling employee benefits for the State of Texas. Pete later founded his own company Pete Peterson and Associates.

Pete was an active member of the Austin Country Club playing golf and tennis as well as holding various committee and board positions over the years. Pete and Patsy were also members of the University of Texas Club, the Austin Assembly and enjoyed spending time with treasured friends in their Dance Club and Supper Club. Pete and Patsy were also very involved members of The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd.

Pete and Patsy loved sports and spent their married life playing tennis and golf together. They loved attending Texas Longhorn football, baseball, and basketball games together and with friends.

Pete grew up around Lake Austin and loved being on the water in Austin or taking a sunset cruise in Rockport. Pete and Patsy loved to travel and were happiest spending time with family and friends at their homes in Rockport, Texas and Ruidoso, New Mexico.

Pete’s greatest joy in life was being “Bampy” to his precious granddaughters, Grace and Blake. Pete never missed a volleyball or basketball game, dance performance, or special event of any kind. He loved them dearly and was so proud, often sharing their accomplishments and accolades with anyone who would listen. Pete instilled in “his girls” his love of sports, his devotion to family and friends, his eternal optimism, and his many “Pete-isms.”

Pete is survived by his daughter, Pamela Peterson Gilmour; his son-in-law, Christopher Todd Gilmour; and his granddaughters, Caroline Grace Gilmour and Alexandra Blake Gilmour.

A Celebration of Life will be held at The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Austin, Texas (3201 Windsor Road) on Tuesday, January 6, 2026 at 10:00am. Memorial contributions may be made to The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd.