Pete's BLOG-Day 26,304. I was named after___because___.

Today is Saturday, November 24, 2012. My stats today: 10 minutes of yoga, 10 minutes on the exercise ball and 45 minutes of walking = 2.5 miles for a November total of 48.0 miles. My weight zoomed to 166.4 pounds. (I'm getting fat again.)

Today I'm going to start something new. I found it in the AARP Bulletin. It was entitled "50 Thanksgiving Story Starters." It was written with the intension of promoting good conversation at the Thanksgiving table. So today I'll write on the #1 entry on the list of 50.

1. "I was named after___because____." I was born November 20. 1940 and was baptized with the name  Peter George Wendell Bungum. There is an interesting story regarding my name. When I was hired to teach in Dubuque in 1966-67 I had to get my birth certificate from Dodge County, Minnesota. When it arrived all it said for my name was "Baby Boy Bungum." All my life I always believed my name was the above four names. Mom told me that on the day of my baptism Dad had to go tell the minister what my name was before the service started. When the minister said "I baptize thee Peter George Wendell Bungum" Mom was shocked - she was shocked because had no idea where Wenell came from.  She had agreed to the Peter George but knew nothing about Wendell.
So who was I named after and why? The Peter was from Grandpa Peder Bungum and probably the Bible had something to do with it; George was from Uncle George Cutting who was married to my Aunt Effie; and Wendell was from Wendell Willkie, the Republican candidate for president in 1940. I guess Dad had voted for FDR in 1932 and 1936 but thought he shouldn't run for a third term so he voted for Wendell Willkie. He must have liked him because that's where I got Wendell.
The end of the story is when I sent my birth certificate back to Minnesota I dropped the Wendell, I wasn't going to go through the rest of my life named after a Republican.