Pete
Etheridge died unexpectedly on July 10, 2019 at his summer home
in Livingston, Montana.
Pete is
preceded in death by his parents Marie and Whitson B. Etheridge.
He is survived by his wife of almost 52 years, Nancy; his
daughter, Hailey Bechtol, and her husband, Brent; his son,
Cooper, and his wife, Kim; and his five grandchildren, Pete, Mac
and Cal Bechtol, and Emerson and Sloan Etheridge. Pete is also
survived by his sisters, Ann Marie Hopkins, Mary Faye Way and Jo
Carol Oberman, and numerous nieces and nephews.
Pete was
born on November 6, 1944 in Austin, Texas. He grew up in Conroe,
where he was an outstanding athlete in football and track, and
he graduated from Conroe High School as Valedictorian in 1963.
He attended the University
of Texas where he met Nancy Denman. He
also made life-long friends as a member of the Sigma Alpha
Epsilon fraternity and the Texas Cowboys. Pete graduated Phi
Beta Kappa from the University of Texas in 1967, and he began
medical school at Baylor College of Medicine that same year.
After completing his internship at Baylor, he served two years
in the United
States Navy. He spent the next seven
years of his medical practice in Salt Lake City, Utah; in
Austin, Texas, where he was the Chief Resident at Brackenridge
Hospital; and in Fort Collins, Colorado, where he opened the
first dialysis center in Northern Colorado. In 1980, he moved
back to Houston to St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital where he would
spend the rest of his career. In 1986, Pete was an integral part
of the St. Luke's team that started the hospital's kidney
transplant program, a unique collaboration between UT-Houston
Medical School and the Baylor College of Medicine. In 1991, he
became Medical Director of St. Luke's Kidney Transplant Program
and, subsequently, Clinical Director of Transplant Services,
positions he held until his death. Given Pete's acumen for
transplant immunology, he served as Chair of the Medical Review
Board of St. Luke's Heart Transplant Program beginning in 2005,
a position he also held until his death. Pete was dedicated to
educating the next generation of doctors, and, as Clinical
Associate Professor of Baylor College of Medicine, he received
numerous teaching awards. In 2011, he received the Master
Clinician of the Year award at St. Luke's Hospital. Over the
years, Pete worked as Medical Director of multiple Fresenius
dialysis clinics, focusing on the care of patients in
communities far removed from Houston's Medical Center.
When he
wasn't working tirelessly on behalf of his patients, Pete loved
spending time with his family and friends, and enjoyed weekend
trips to Brenham and summer trips to Montana.
Since Pete
never wanted a formal funeral, the family hopes you will do
something in his honor in whatever way you would like. Memorial
contributions may be given to The Living Bank - 4545 Post Oak
Place, Suite 340, Houston, TX 77027 (https://www.livingbank.org/),
Yellowstone Forever - PO Box 117, Yellowstone National Park, WY
82190
(https://www.yellowstone.org/),or
to the charity
of your choice.