Peter J. Lawrence (1953-2008)

LAWRENCE, ELDER, HOLT, LAWRENCE, KEHR

Posted By: Ames Tribune
Date: 11/8/2008 at 00:06:51

THE AMES TRIBUNE, Ames, Story County, Iowa, Thursday, November 6, 2008.

April 1, 1953-Nov. 5, 2008

Peter J. Lawrence, 55, of Ames, died Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2008, at Mary Greeley Medical Center in Ames. A gathering of friends will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 9, at Grandon Funeral and Cremation Care, 414 Lincoln Way, in Ames, with a celebration of life service at 1 p.m. Monday, Nov. 10, also at Grandon Funeral and Cremation Care.

Peter was born April 1, 1953, in Spencer, the son of Richard and Bettie (Elder) Lawrence. He graduated from Spencer High School in 1971 and from University of South Dakota Vermillion in 1975. He then worked for KICD in Spencer before moving to Ames in 1987.

Peter was a member of Evening Shade Lodge 312 A.F. and A.M. of Spencer and Abu Bekr Shriners of Sioux City. He enjoyed being a church organist for more than 25 years. He was a freelance photographer, capturing photographs at Wounded Knee in 1973. He loved astronomy and recently became an official storm chaser.

Peter was an audio specialist at WOI Radio for 21 years. During that time, Peter provided audio production assistance for numerous musical and news events including the Des Moines Symphony orchestra, Third Thursday, Iowa Week, State Fair broadcasts and other live and recorded broadcasts. Also during his tenure, Peter was coordinator of the Ames uplink of the National Public Radio satellite distribution system. In this role, he worked with producers and the satellite operations center to schedule and distribute public radio programs throughout the world. Largely because of his customer service orientation, the Ames uplink facility was the second busiest in the nation for many years until NPR cancelled the service and dismantled the system.

Through his work with the satellite system, Peter was a familiar voice throughout the public radio system as evidenced by this producer's comment:

"We all loved working with Pete. I will especially miss his resonate voice announcing 'Ames' each time we called for an uplink."

Peter is survived by his wife, Dodie, of Ames; children, Erica Holt (and Travis Lenig), of Colo, Jarrod Holt, of Ames, and Ashley Lawrence, of Ames; mother, Bettie Lawrence, of Spencer; sister, Alice (Richard) Kehr, of Spencer; niece, Mollie Kehr, of Kansas City; and nephew, Charlie Kehr, of Des Moines.

Peter was preceded in death by his father.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to WOI Radio in Ames.

Grandon Funeral and Cremation Care is assisting the family.

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