Pete English Memorial Website

 

I first met Pete English around 1995 when I hired him to detail my 1991 Acura Legend. He was earning money doing auto detailing in the front parking area of his cousin’s business in Hyannis, Cape Cod, MA.

When I came back to pick up my car, he wasn’t quite done yet so while I waited around and watched him work. We started to make small talk to pass the time. I had spent much of my life in the music business, and it came up that Pete played guitar and had once been in a band. With rock music as our common interest, Pete and I quickly became good friends. We also discovered we had several mutual friends especially Steve Roberts. My friendship with Pete lasted nearly ten years, right up to the day he died.

At some point, Pete was looking for a new place to live and he wondered if I was up for him moving into my house. I had plenty of room and agreed. I was also a host parent of a foreign exchange student named Mickey at the time. He and Pete also become close friends.

Pete had a copy of a music video his band made a few years earlier which he played for me. If I can ever find it, I will make it available on here.

Pete drove a black Camaro Convertible with a red interior. He loved that car more than himself. He was meticulous in its care. He decided to have it repainted. Pete was a bit of a perfectionist and although I thought it looked fine, Pete found a lot of things with the new paint job that he felt weren’t quite up to his standards. We made a few trips back to the paint shop to get the shop owner to fix some minor imperfections until he was finally satisfied.

Pete and Mickey and I all spent a lot of time hanging out together.  I was representing a group from the UK called “In My Skin” in the US at the time. Pete often went to the group’s shows with me when they were performing in the area.

Around the middle of June 2004, I got a phone call from Pete who by this time was living with his new girlfriend named Wendy in Snellville, Georgia. He told me he was coming back to the Cape to visit in a couple of weeks. He was excited for me to meet Wendy who by this time was his Fiancée. I think he may have asked if they could stay at my house while here. I was anxious to see him and to meet Wendy, but I told him I was going to Canada for friend’s 40th wedding anniversary but should be back by the 4th of July.

When I was back from Canada, I stopped by the Willow Tree Market to pick up a few things. Steve Robert’s family owned the store, and Steve worked there. Steve was close friends with Pete.

As I sat in my car in the drive through, Steve asked me if I heard about Pete? I presumed he was going to tell me that they had arrived on the Cape while I was gone. Instead, he broke the news to me that Pete had passed away. I was in shock and got in touch with Wendy by phone.

I eventually met Wendy when she came to the Cape to meet me and Pete’s relatives. We spent some time with each other mostly talking about Pete and what happened.

Wendy and I decided to create the original version of this site in 2004 by pooling my photos of Pete along with Wendy’s photos and photos that were generously shared by Pete’s family and friends.

What you see here is the most recent incarnation of that site.