A. Peter Wouters was born in Minnesota near Hawley on December 5, 1920 and failed to recover from surgery performed at Cottage Hospital December 2012. He died on January 19, 2013 after a valiant effort. Peter had two careers: one with the United States Coast Guard and one with Westinghouse Space and Defense Center. Peter joined USCG 1941 and served at Point Reyes and the South Pacific during WWII. His last post, from which he retired in 1965 as Master Chief, was teaching Advanced Electronics at Coast Guard Training Station in Groton, Connecticut. After that, he was employed as an Electronic Engineer in Field Engineering with Westinghouse from 1965 to 1992.
He was posted to Baltimore, Bremerton, Seattle, Napa, England, Puerto Rico, Newport, Annapolis and Port Hueneme. He received many commendations and honors for his work with Westinghouse. For many years, Peter served as a Vice President and Coast Guard Liaison on the Board of Directors with the Navy League, Channel Islands Chapter and in 2007 was honored as Navy Leaguer of the Year in the Pacific Southwest Region.
Peter graduated from Hollywood High School in 1939 and later in New York from the RCA Institutes. He and his wife Barbara were married in 1962 in Wildwood, New Jersey and just recently celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary in Santa Barbara. They are members of First Presbyterian Church. He leaves his wife Barbara, nephews and nieces: Cassandra Cleghorn (Williamstown, Mass.), Angela Bolan (Cincinnati, Ohio), Paul (Phoenix, Arizona) and Nicholas Ondrejka (Honolulu, Hawaii). In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Coast Guard Foundation, the Lobero Foundation or one’s favorite charity. Visitation will be held, Wednesday, 4PM to 8PM at the Welch-Ryce-Haider Santa Barbara Chapel. To leave online condolences, please log onto www.wrhsb.com.
