Buzz Pratt

Pete's full name was Harold W. Marston, Jr.  Does everyone remember that old MG he had? I  considered him a good friend (with a really neat car).

I caught up with Pete briefly in 1966 when I was stationed in Norfolk and he was at William & Mary. I remember he told me he had to take a year off from school as a result of a fairly severe auto accident he had been in, although he seemed pretty much recovered by '66.

He's listed on the William and Mary alumni website, though without much info. (A Google search will bring that up.)

It lists him as the class of '67 (presumably accounting for the year off), living in Thousand Oaks, California.

Another Google discovery is the site ("Block Shopper-Tampa) that lists a "Harold W. Marston, Jr." as the seller, in 2004, of 750 Pinewood Drive in Dunedin. Not sure, but that might have been his mother's house, where Pete was living in 1962. Anybody have an older Dunedin phone directory? Pretty sure his mother's name (at least in '62) was Sally Marston. Of course he may not have been living there then. He may have still been in California and had inherited the property from his Mom.

Wish I knew more.  If anyone has further information I'd love to learn about it.

Buzz Pratt

Dee Everingham (Sweet)

i considered Pete a good friend growing up in Dundin. i lost track of him after college. his mom died so he

had no reason to visit after that. she lived on Pinehurst in dunedin with pete and remained there after we

graduated. so sorry to learn Pete is passed.

Holly Springer (McEachern)

Pete's middle name was Woodroe...I don't think he ever wanted anyone to know that. Pete grew up in a house on Highland Avenue (the original Highland). He and his mom, Sally-a really sweet lady, moved after his dad died when we were in 7th grade. 

Roger Gildersleeve

I first met Pete when we played for the Fighting Jaycees Little League Team at the age of 10. He played first base and had a huge first baseman's mit. From shortstop you could close your eyes and throw it in his direction, and he would "scoop it up." Buzz and Lynn should remember this about Pete.

Lynn Humphrey

Roger, I remember Pete being on our team, too. Pete and I hung out a lot in 9th and 10th grades. I remember him taking care of some chinchillas in the back of a furniture store just down from Grant field. What a job! We were in the same type of insurance business with competing companies. We stayed in touch for several years while I was in Miami and he was in New York. The last I saw him was at the ten year reunion. He was a really cool guy! 

Jack Dyer

In 2H70s relocated back from Far East to USA (NJ) where we lived for a few years. I would go into NYC now and then to have lunch with Pete and some of his work (insurance) cronies, usually on Fridays because after those "lunches" it was all I could do to find my way back to the train station and then luckly board the right train back to home in NJ-all from trying to keep up with Pete & gang in the libation sense at lunch. During those years Pete was still single and really living the bachelor life - Big Apple style, which became evident to me because of those lunches. Those guys usually started their weekend adventures during Friday lunch (never returning to their offices). The stories were the best (like the one about the babe he had been "dating"  then dumped [he dumped them all but one-that's for later] and the dumped one turned out to be the daughter of some mafia boss who got really pissed about it - that was a close one; and there were many many more which varied on the same theme) and I can still hear him giggling now. In 1980 I relocated up to CT and, yep you guessed it, started to hook up for Friday lunches with Pete once again, now with him usually alone, but now in the Hartford CT area as by then he was married (never met her) and living near corporate headquaters, can' t remember which insurance company. He, although now married, did prefer to maintain the focus on Friday lunch libations when we were together and perhaps it bacame too much of a habit - we did talk about that possibility now and then. He was enormously sucessful in the indiustry to my recollection, one of the big guys, but I can only imagime the stress for results. The smile and giggle never changed and when I think of him that's what I remember. Later that decade he relocated out to California and the rest is history. My sense is that his preferred life style caught up with him but I bet he went with a smile and giggle...

Bill Gaunt

I happened to be visiting Pete at his place on Long Island the weekend that he met his future wife.  I could tell that he was very taken by her.  She had a great sense of humor.  We stopped for gas and Pete knocked on her window from outside.  She rolled it down, said "I want a cheeseburger and a chocolate shake" then immediately rolled it back up.  They had two girls.  I well remember when Pete's dad died.  I lived around the corner and I heard the ambulance about midnight then found out the next day what had happened.  I feel sure that Pete never got over that.  It left a pretty big psychological scar.  Pete really knew how to have fun in NYC.  I remember another time I visited Pete in the city and there was a big snow storm and I was a day late getting back to my base in Norfolk.  Lots of fond memories with Pete from first grade on.  RIP,  Bill Gaunt

Ronald D. Vaughan

Pete and I went to The College William & Mary together and I remember the long train rides to Richmond.  I suppose that is when his fondness of the lunches started.  We would sit in the club car as drank as soon as the train left Wildwood where it joined up with the east coast cars.  After enough libation, we would stumble back to our seats and finally get some sleep.  Our freshman year we double dated a bit and Pete was a great guy to party with. He pledged Sigma Alpha e and I Phi Kappa Tau so we began do drift apart out sophomore.  If I wanted to get under his skin, I would call him Harold (his first name) and would bear the brunt of his wrath.  But I will always remember our times at W & M.  This planet lost one of a kind when he departed.

Gerry Mays (Stone)

My sympathies to your family. So sorry for your loss.

Eddie R. Simmons