Pete O.M. Wilson

Orville Melvin “Pete” Wilson passed away unexpectedly on August 3, 2022 at St. Charles Hospital in Bend, OR. Pete was born in San Antonio, Texas on May 31, 1935.

His passion for living life to the fullest and being a man of many talents were evident early in life. He was a visionary, builder, real estate developer, loving husband, wonderful father and a great friend. Pete worked for his brother Ray Wilson in the 1950’s working for the family health spa business, selecting sites and opening new health spas around the country. In the 1960’s he settled in Portland, Oregon with his wife, Janet Collver, it was here that they raised their 6 children together.

Pete started his successful real estate career in 1961 where he obtained his real estate broker’s license, and founded his real estate business, Pete Wilson Realty, Inc. Over the next few years, he expanded his real estate vision with the creation and incorporation in 1964 of Pacific Northwest Development Corporation, a development, real estate and construction business. He opened The Mortgage Exchange, Inc. in the early 1970’s creating, buying and selling mortgages and mortgage backed securities.

Pete was a visionary when it came to land development with an amazing talent for finding the best use of property; building apartments, manufactured home parks, shopping centers, resort developments, residential new home communities and a golf course. These projects were built all over the state of Oregon, including the Portland area, Bend, Redmond, Gresham, Canby, Salem, Lakeview, Roseburg, Woodburn, and Rockaway.

Pete served as the Past President of the Oregon Association of Realtors along with serving on many boards and giving his time to others. Employees, friends and family will all say the same things about Pete Wilson, he was a man who cared deeply for all around him.

Pete came to Bend in the late 1960’s and purchased the 410 acre Deschutes River Ranch. Pete managed to preserve the 1 ½ miles of Deschutes River on the property creating the first fully deeded timeshare resort in Oregon. Many families over the years had the pleasure of enjoying family time, hiking, fishing, swimming or riding horses on a real working ranch. He also developed Rockaway Beach Resort - a timeshare resort in Rockaway, Oregon.

Pete focused on residential development in the early 1980's, providing desperately needed affordable housing in Central Oregon. The first development of 103 homes in northeast Bend off of Butler Market Road known as Tamarack Park was funded with private financing. He purchased the adjoining land and soon developed 278 homes in Tamarack Park East followed by developing and building an additional 275 homes in the Providence Subdivision off of Neff Road.

Pete shifted his home building focus to Redmond Oregon in the early 1990’s purchasing the property Known as Forked Horn Butte and developing 277 homes and view home sites in what brought a higher level of affordable homes to many families.

Pete took pride in developing a world class executive golf course with Robert Muir Graves and the 212 new homes at The Greens at Redmond. The Greens was a central part in extending water and sewer services to south Redmond, paving the way for an urban renewal district which ultimately led to the fairgrounds and the surrounding industrial and commercial development. Pete constructed more than 1,250 affordable homes for families in Central Oregon.

Pete Wilson was proud that he was able to provide so many well paying jobs around Oregon for 50 years. Working for Pete was hard and fun at the same time. He enjoyed Halloween, dressing up in costume and taking his employees to lunch to show off their team spirit.. He thanked his employees, business associates, friends and family with the annual Christmas Party at the Benson Hotel. He enjoyed celebrating employees' birthdays. Pete was generous at charity auctions, a gracious host and fun to be around.

He loved the outdoors, hunting, fishing, boating, water skiing, snow skiing, golfing and horseback riding. If you had the pleasure to get to know Pete Wilson, you liked him, he always had a story or two to share. He had a strong work ethic, which he passed on to his children.

Pete is survived by his first wife, Jan, the mother of his 6 children, Sharon Willey, Steve Wilson, Debbie Brown, Marianne Wilson Stein, Peter Wilson and Tiffany Farrell, along with 14 grandkids. Pete is also survived by his second wife, Paula and their son, Paul Wilson, their other son, Patrick Wilson, passed away suddenly a few years ago. Pete is also survived by his last love, Linda, his third wife.

A celebration of life will be held on Sunday, October 23rd 2022 at 2pm at the Dandelion Teahouse located at 109 W. 7th Street, Vancouver, WA 98660.