Pete's wife, Betsy Jordan, writes about why she donated a plaque in his honor at one of his favorite places:
Pete and I
swam regularly with the UCSD Masters workout group during all the years of our
marriage. He was and is well-loved among
the coaches and fellow swimmers there.
With four workouts a day Monday through Friday and also a workout on
Saturday and on Sunday, many swimmers of many ability levels can
participate.
The older of the two UCSD
50 meter outdoor pools has become a place where memorial plaques can be
installed honoring swimmers who are no longer with us. These plaques, representing a donation to the
university from his or her family, can be embedded in the cement pool deck as a
constant reminder of their presence.
There are perhaps 18 short course lanes and about half of them are now
designated as memorial lanes for a certain beloved swimmer. The coach and the family choose where to put
the plaque, usually in a lane where that swimmer actually swam.
Pete’s is in lane 2, where the older and
slower swimmers hang out. He used to say
that as he got older he might have to move to lane 1, and after that, to down
in the canyon! He also delighted in
saying, in his wry self-deprecating way, that he was “a lane 2 person in
swimming and in life.” We all know that
the last half of that is not true, but he liked to smile about it. On August 1 we will have the official
dedication ceremony for the Pete Riddle Memorial Lane…lane 2, of course. Those of us who swim there regularly will
always be reminded of him when we swim in “his lane.”
