Pete was first and foremost a dedicated husband and dad and his second passion in life was diving. His first dive experience was in the Cayman Islands in 2003 and upon his return home he spent the next year researching diving and dive gear. For Christmas Tracy and Jennifer bought him dive lessons and that’s where his dive story truly begins.
His favorite tropical dive spot was in Maui where he dove with Erik from Extended Horizons. He did many dives there, including First and Second Cathedrals, the Carthaginian and the Mala Pier. He also did some night diving at Black Rock with Keith Saddler. Many of you may have heard Pete talk about Keith. He was a dive instructor who was able to dive with only one leg and he was an inspiration to Pete. He would always come back from diving so excited to share his stories about all of the things that he had seen and experienced. His favorites were always the sea turtles, eels and sharks.
The Waterton Camping Weekend in August 2020 was to be Pete’s last big dive event and what a weekend it was. Pete and his best buddy James had planned and cooked up a fabulous breakfast on Saturday morning and it was no surprise to anyone that they did that together because the two of them were inseparable and it was rare to see one at dive events and not the other. Pete did not get a dive in that weekend but he was happy to be there to visit and just be among all of his dive buddies. The Saturday night door prize draws and swapping dive stories around the campfire over a beer was always a favorite. Many of you wouldn’t know this about Pete but when he won the special door prize draw, a new dive mask, he brought it back to the camper and he was so overwhelmed with emotion that he had big tears in his eyes and could hardly speak.
Jennifer and I would like to thank each and every one of you who touched Pete’s life in some special way. We have so many treasured memories of Pete because of all of you and we will be forever grateful. We hope you take some small comfort in knowing that Pete died doing what he loved.
-Tracy and Jennifer Schmidt
He passed pursuing the passion we all follow.
In 2015 Pete joined the Underwater Outlaws Dive Club and it held a special place in his heart. He enjoyed all of the events but especially a relaxing weekend of camping and diving at Two Jack or Waterton Park. When it was time to dive he loved to visit with everyone while he was getting geared up and he was usually one of the last divers into the water and even if he wasn’t able to dive he was always excited to be able to be there to make sure that everyone had a great time.
One of his proudest moments was when he was able to buy his first dry suit. Of course he did a ton of research and decided on his blue DUI. It was something that he truly treasured.
In 2019 Pete joined the Underwater Outlaws Board of Directors and he was excited at the prospect of taking on a bigger role in the club. The year brought about a lot of challenges to the dive club but Pete was positive that the club would still be able to put on successful events.