 Former Nome Miner was Delegate to Constitutional Convention November 07, 2002
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 Corps of Engineers. After the war, Reader joined the North Fork Dredging Company, and mined on 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 Kauer of Nome, Alaska, 99762, or the Nome Volunteer Fire Department. In recognition of his service
to the people and State of Alaska, Gov. Tony Knowles has ordered
state flags lowered to half-staff through sundown on Thursday,
November 7, in memory of Peter L. Reader.
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