Name: Peter L. Reader

City: Nome

District: 9

Occupation: Miner

Born: 1913 - North Dakota

Death: November 6, 2002 - Silverdale, Washington

Burial Location: Kingston, Washington

Alaska Resident: 1934 - 1965

Convention Posts:

• Member, Committee on Resources
• Member, Committee on Resolutions and Recommendations

Education: High School

Public Offices and Organizations:

• Nome City Council

Further Information:

• Resources Committee at Work

 

Quote from the Constitutional Convention:

"I certainly enjoyed my knowledge which I gained from this Convention, and I don't think anyone could ever buy it."

-Delegate Peter L. Reader, Day 76 of the Constitutional Convention. The only words of record Delegate Reader ever said in the general sessions. Reader was the only delegate to actively oppose statehood.

Flags Lowered Thursday in Memory of Peter Reader

Former Nome Miner was Delegate to Constitutional Convention

November 6, 2002

Gov. Tony Knowles ordered state flags lowered to half-staff through sundown on Thursday, November 7th in memory of Peter Reader. The former Nome resident and miner was a delegate to the Alaska Constitutional Convention. He died this morning in Silverdale, Washington, after a lengthy illness. He was 89.

Peter L. Reader was born in Grand Rapids, North Dakota on August 31, 1913. He moved to Alaska in October of 1934 and worked for a mining company in Candle. He moved to Nome the following year and worked on claims on Sunset Creek, Iron Creek and Benson Creek in the Nome area until World War II. During the war, he was an equipment foreman for the Army Corps of Engineers.

After the war, Reader joined the North Fork Dredging Company and mined on the North Fork and Harris Creek in the Kougarok district of the Seward Peninsula. In 1950, he moved permanently to Nome and became a general contractor; he also operated the Pioneer Water Company and owned rental property.

Reader served as a delegate to the Alaska Constitutional Convention in 1955 and 1956. In 1958, he and four other investors formed the Nome Telephone Company which bought the previous telephone company and upgraded the equipment to a modern dial system. He was an officer of the corporation and also handled all the outside lineman and installer duties. In 1965, the telephone company was sold and Reader and his wife moved to the Kitsap Peninsula in Washington, where he remained until his death.

Peter Reader is survived by his wife Borgny, a son, Peter L. Reader, Jr. of Portland, Oregon; a daughter, Helen M. Reader-Chapman of Yelm, Washington; three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. A second son preceded him in death in 1948. In addition to his immediate family, he is survived by sisters Yvonne Klein of Suquamish, Washington; Pat Gallegher, of Seattle; Mary Morgenroth, of Port Angeles, Washington; Ann Brusse, of Portland, and Donna Mae Cole, of Seattle. Surviving brothers are Paul Reader, of Sequim, Washington and Charles Reader, of Nome and Anchorage, Alaska; as well as numerous nieces and nephews.

No services are planned, at his request. Donations may be made to the Nome Cemetery Fund, care of his niece Cussie Cauer of Nome, Alaska, 99762, or the Nome Volunteer Fire Department.

Source: Press Release - Governor Tony Knowles