President of Our Student Council

Peter Hobart was born on January 31, 1940 and died on May 27, 1963 , at age 23, of Hodgkin's Disease, a type of lymphoma (a cancer in the lymphatic system).  When we recall his contributions to our class we marvel at the work he did.  Peter was a calming and thoughful influence on our class.  He had a lot to do in such a short lifetime!

As a sophomore Peter was a member of the all-school Student Council, and served as its president during our senior year.  He was also the All-School Secretary and chairman of the Ethics Committee.  He served on the staff of our school newspaper, The Echo, was a High-Y Vice-President and Secretary and member and finally president of the Latin Club.  We recall with fondness that Peter had that "executive eye, and all comprehensive" view of the world and our part in it.  Peter's father was a member of the St. Louis Park School Board.  We can only imagine that Peter may have felt that his role as a student in our school was to insure that the policies and rules of behavior that the Board had designed for us were carried out in everyday practice.  Certainly, the influence of his home life bore fruit for his many contributions to our class and our school.

Our classmate, Judy Gerber Tess, recalls that she and Peter were very close as children, living and playing only two doors apart in St. Louis Park's south side.  Their parents provided good, solid, ideal homes.  However, as they grew up, Peter's family moved a few blocks away and she lost touch with Peter's ideas and goals on a daily basis; but Judy says that she always "knew that he was the best person I would ever know."  What Judy shared with Peter were very "real conversations," whenever they ran into one another.  Many of us recall that same interaction as well.  Conversations with Peter were never trivial.  He was always thinking and conversing about what could be, what should be, and what we needed to be doing to be better at anything and everything we did.

One of the last times Judy ran into Peter he told her that he "didn't know if he would still be around for the 5-year Class Reunion."  He wasn't.  Peter died a few weeks later -- of the cancer that had slowly consumed him.  Not unexpectedly, the School Board named a new school after Peter.  At that time our St. Louis Park Public School system was growing.  The Peter Hobart Elementary School still bears his name.  It continues to be a tribute to the kind of person that Peter Hobart was -- caring, deliberate, concerned, for improvement in the lives of us all. 

Sometimes it seems strange that God would give us a person who can change the world, then take him from us before that person can realize and enjoy the results of his own presence and promise on Earth.