Tundel, Peter C. Age 76 of Eden Prairie passed away April 17, 2024, after a battle with cancer. He is survived by wife, Sandi; daughter, Nikki (Tim), daughter, Laura (Aaron), and son, Mark (Jason).
Pete was smart, funny, caring and determined. He was a unique mix of optimist and cynic. And he was extremely loved.
He was born in Brooklyn to Christian, Norwegian parents. He grew up playing football, baseball and basketball with his three brothers. He met his wife at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa. They got married in 1970.
Pete worked for Cargill for 15 years, with job promotions sending the family from Indiana to Washington, Iowa, Illinois and Minnesota. In 1992, he bought a Sox Appeal store, happily becoming his own boss. He eventually owned three stores in the metro.
Some might describe Pete as old-school, traditional or matter-of-fact. Others might call him stuck in his ways. Regardless, he was always kind, supportive and generous.
He LOVED golf and played every chance he could get. He was a humble guy but always happy to talk about the time he got a hole-in-one.
He ate his steaks rare and ordered a glass of milk with every meal. He wasn’t big on spices and only liked what he called “regular food.”
He loved to read and always had a book with him. He enjoyed both fiction and books on history. He read all he could find about the country’s Founding Fathers and could tell you everything you’d ever want to know about Thomas Jefferson — or likely more than you’d ever want to know.
Pete still carried a leather briefcase with a combination lock and he still did his taxes by hand, using the little pencils typically reserved for golf scorecards.
He had a lot of opinions about a lot of television shows — mostly that they were horrible in one way or another. However, he did like the original Star Trek series and classic episodes of The Twilight Zone.
He took his family to ball games and museums, to Niagara Falls and Disneyworld. He guided his wife and kids along every inch of both Boston’s Freedom Trail and Philadelphia’s Revolution Walking Tour.
Pete made it to seemingly endless gymnastics meets for all three of his children.
He enjoyed making Christmas brunch and considered himself a master of the perfect pancake.
While in the hospital, Pete refused to wait for nurses to help him get out of bed and walk, as he was instructed. They rigged his bed with buzzers that would go off whenever he got up. These buzzers sounded often. Pete, who could indeed walk pretty well on his own, would say, “I just have to be free.”
All obituary information has been taken from the funeral home, newspaper or other online resource.
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