A fondly known fixture of Maple Ridge will no longer be parking his wheelchair on the sidewalk or talking to passersby or enjoying the odd, donated cigar or coffee.
Pete Seigo died in Ridge Meadows Hospital early Friday.
“He was always very nice,” said Kim Hansford, who saw him regularly outside the 7-Eleven on Laity Street and Lougheed Highway and knew him for 15 years.
He was kind and people knew him throughout Maple Ridge. Her kids even knew him and would shout out, “Hey, there’s Pete,” whenever they saw him, she added.
Hansford used to bring him a coffee and Pom-Pom cigars and said he’d been mostly living outside for 20 to 30 years.
“Your body can only handle so much,” she said.
Once, during the summer, she tried to buy him a Slurpee, but Pete said no thanks. All he wanted was a coffee.
Many people are shaken to hear that he had died, she added.
Long-time Maple Ridge resident Rick Woods had known Pete since school days. Woods was friends with Pete’s younger brother, Mike.
The hospital confirmed Pete’s death to Woods on Friday morning.
Pete used to be found either outside the 7-Eleven or the Chevron gas station on 216th Street and Dewdney Trunk Road, said Woods.
“I’d sit and talk with him for a while. He’s just a fixture of Maple Ridge.”
Pete would never pester anyone, but if someone spoke to him, he’d return the conversation and have a chat, Woods recalled.
At some point several years ago so, Pete’s toes were amputated, apparently after severe frostbite one cold winter.
He ended up in a wheelchair and would sometimes walk and push the chair along the sidewalk.
But he hated being in a chair.
He lived in a mobile home park by Laity Street in recent years.
Woods said when Pete was younger, he seemed to have some mental health problems.
“He always seemed to have something about him that was off.”
But, “he was a true, gentle soul,” said Woods.
Ron Benedictson, a life-long Maple Ridge resident, used to see Pete all around over the years, often in the area around Ridge Meadows Hospital.
“He was just always there and everyone accepted him, part of the community. Everyone loved him.”
People would just give him stuff, he added. And Pete would mumble a thank you, Benedictson added.
“He was some everyone would say hi to. ‘Hey Pete, Hey Pete.'”
Pat Seigo-Underhill thanks people on social media for being good friends and good neighbours to Pete, her second cousin.
“As in many families, as a cousin (2nd), we were never closely connected. We knew of Pete and [when] we all … came across his path would stop and say, ‘hi, how ya doin’.’ Some of us would buy him that coffee and chat. Sure wish families would connect more. RIP dear cousin and hopefully all the Seigos will be together to welcome you. :)”
Renee Stevens wrote on Facebook that she was sorry to hear of Pete’s death.
“He was a kind, shy, gentle, soul, always respectful and polite.
“He has lived outside in our community, for at least the 27 years I have been here, the way he wanted to live. You will be safe and warm now, Pete.”
Scott Leaf wrote on the Street Level Maple Ridge Facebook page that he knew Pete, who grew up on 123rd Avenue by Fairview elementary in Maple Ridge.
“He was in his late 50s, I believe. His cousins were closer to my age than he and his sister were, so I didn’t have anything to do with him when we were kids. But living a block apart, we knew each other. I did stop to talk to him from time to time over the years and he remembered me always, never asked me for a thing, but I slipped him ’20 bux’ a few times as he has always been the only Maple Ridge homeless person I knew and his mental health issues truly were not his fault. I can’t believe he survived outdoors as long as he did, scorching summers and the bitter cold winters that took his toes. Your struggle with mental illness is now over. RIP Pete.”
Dee Sicklesteel wrote: “Pete was a staple in this town, an icon, even. I would love to see his wheelchair made into a statue and permanently parked near Chevron or 7-11 as a tribute to such a beloved member of our community. Rest in Peace, Pete. You will be missed.”
