Community Corner

UPDATE: Walk Planned Friday Morning in Memory of Kirkland's Bill Petter

The former owner of Bel-Kirk Motors and two-time Chamber of Commerce president died at home Monday morning of a heart attack.

UPDATE 

Friends and family of the late Bill Petter will join Friday morning to walk Lake Washington Boulevard as the longtime Kirkland figure did for many years every morning, always smiling and waving to passersby.

The former owner of Bel-Kirk Motors and two-time Chamber of Commerce president, a Kirkland resident for more than 50 years, died of a heart attack in his home Monday morning at 79.

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The gathering of  family, friends old and new, business and community partners and well wishers will be meeting at 90 Central Way in Kirkland at 6:00 a.m. The procession will walk the Lake Washington Blvd. to Carillon Point and back, donned in red coats and waving to the early morning commuters, just like Petter did on his morning walks.

The walk was organized by Petter's grandson, Benjamin Petter, who wrote, "His warm heart, honest generosity, and fun-loving spirit will be greatly missed. As we celebrate his life and mourn his passing, we would like to pay tribute to some of the things which made 'BP' so special..."

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Bill Petter, a former Chamber of Commerce president and former owner of Bel-Kirk Motors in downtown Kirkland, died after being stricken in his home Monday by an apparent heart attack. He was 79. 

Petter was known for many things. He was a two-time Chamber of Commerce president, a founder and driving force behind the Kirkland Interfaith Transitions in Housing, active with the March of Dimes, and a former director of the Bank of Kirkland.

But he was best-known in recent years as the ever-smiling figure wearing oversized gloves, waving at motorists as he took his morning walk along Lake Street and Lake Washington Boulevard.

He operated Bel-Kirk Motors from 1963 to 1991 at the corner of Central Way and Market, selling Volvos, Saabs, Datsuns and Fiats, using the jingle, “We don’t wear ties and don’t tell lies.”

Petter also served on Kirkland's Civil Service Commission.

“He is going to be sorely missed,” said Bill Woods, a former mayor of Kirkland. “Bill had a great way about him. When he’d meet people, he said ‘Hi, brother!’ I asked him if he said that because he couldn’t remember their names, and he said ‘No, I just consider everyone my brother.’ ”

Current Mayor Joan McBride called Petter “the happy face of Kirkland.”

“When we say we want to be a welcoming and compassionate city, he is who you think of," she said. "That doesn’t count all of the many other things he did for the community – such a good man!”

Petter was discovered at his home Monday morning by a friend and taken to Evergreen Hospital, where he died, apparently of a heart attack. He is survived by two sons and a daughter. Services are pending.


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