Orville Bayless (Pete) MINK

Notes:

Orville B. 'Pete' Mink, 79, of Mesa, Arizona, formerly of South Elgin, died Sunday in Mesa Luthern Hospital, Mesa. He was born August 6, 1905, in Elgin, the son of Charles and Gertrude Bayless Mink. He had lived in South Elgin most of his life and had been employed by Steffan Brothers Construction Co. before retiring in 1971 and moving to Mesa. He had been a member of the South Elgin Community United Methodist Church and St. Andrews Methodist Church of Mesa. Surviving are a son, Philip of Mesa; a daughter, Mrs. Jesse (Carol) Meyers of Monroe, LA; nine grandchildren; three step-grandchildren; a great-grandchild; a brother, Walter of Elcho, WS; and two sisters, Irene Wauchope and Nina Steffan, both of Elgin. Besides his parents, he was preceded in death by his wife, Harriet Perkins Mink. Services will be at 1 p.m. Friday in the Laird Funeral Home, Elgin, the Rev. William Blomberg and the Rev. Walter Lunsford, officiating. Burial will be in Bluff City Cemetery. Visitation will be after 4 p.m. Thursday in the funeral home and Friday until the time of the funeral. DAILY COURIER-NEWS - WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1984 Orville was born in the third house west of Raymond Street, on the south side of Dwight Street in Elgin. In 1907 they moved to southern Missouri on a farm near Mansfield. (on Pea Ridge) The move was made to help his mother with her asthma problem and the move helped greatly. Returning to Elgin in 1916, they lived first at 426 S. Liberty St for a short time and then moved to 347 St. Charles Street. He attended Lincoln School and then the first three years of Elgin High, having to quit to help out, after his dad died in 1923.(would have graduated with the Class of 1925) His first job was with the Elgin Case Factory in 1924 and in 1925 went to work in the assembly room of the Elgin National Watch Company.(Chet Perkins was his foreman) When the depression came, he and Walter were 'let go' at the watch factory, so they started 'Mink Brothers Garage' in the double garage behind their house. 1932 found him working for Landon Cartage Company at the C. NW railroad yard at Proviso, Illinois. He worked there until 1945 when Walt and him started Surburban Machine Shop in Wooddale, Illinois. In late 1949, he and Harriet moved to Pelican Lake, Wisconsin, where he worked for a boat factory making wooden boats.