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Peter Ringo died in Selma, Calif., on Nov. 30, 1968, as the result of injuries received when the car he was driving was struck broadside by another automobile.
Peter was born on Sept. 17, 1945, in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of David Leer and Ruth McDonell Ringo. He grew up in northern Kentucky and came to Princeton from The Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, N.J., where he participated in many activities and was head of the school yearbook. At Princeton Pete received his A.B. degree in history and was a member of Cottage Club and the Right Wing Club.
Following graduation, Pete attended the University of Virginia Graduate School of Business Administration at Charlottesville. After completing his first year at business school, he left to enter Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) and was assigned for training at the University of California at Berkeley. For the four months prior to his death he was working in Selma, Calif., with the Mexican-American residents of the area.
Pete’s objective in Selma was to serve as an intermediary between the migrant workers and city officials, and specifically, to secure a housing project for the farm workers and to have the areas they lived in incorporated. In the few months he was in the San Joaquin Valley, Pete, acting as a catalyst, was able to open channels of communication between the two interest groups and was effectively working toward the accomplishment of his objectives. His remarkable ability to relate to people, as well as his practical approach to the problems of his area, were instrumental in Pete’s performing what his supervisor described as “outstanding work.”
Death at an early age is always a tragic occurrence, and the loss of Pete, who had a remarkable zest for life and an unusual ability to share that enthusiasm with others, leaves a great void for all those who knew him. However, in the relatively brief time that he lived, Pete was able to accomplish much. He had a deep love for Kentucky, Lawrenceville and Princeton, not merely as places but because of the friends he had made there. Perhaps most importantly of all, he had found, through his work in VISTA, more satisfaction at the age of 23 than many of us will find in a lifetime.
To Pete’s father and mother, to his two brothers, David and Phil ’64, and to his sister, Nancy, the Class extends its very deepest sympathy.
© 1969 Class of 1967 and The Princeton Alumni Weekly, where it appeared March 4, 1969. Used by permission.
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