In 1960 Pete and Bessie Sanstol moved from Norway back to the United States where both were citizens. Pete had located a job in Long Beach, California. They found a small place on Elm Street. At first he worked as a translator for a shipping company, helping that company communicate with the officers and crews of ships from many different nations.

Pete began to settle into the simple, quiet life. Finally, after all those adventurous years.

Earlier Bessie's daughter Millie had written to see if Pete and Bessie would like to take care of her son Dickie (born October 17, 1954) for a while. She had two other boys at the time, with a third on the way, and would soon separate from her husband. Her marriage was crumbling. Pete wrote back from Oslo on November 11, 1959:

... Mother has always felt that she was too old to take a youngster into her life, but I knew that we had to do it. Yes, I am with you and your plans for Dickie, and that is probably the only thoughts we are agreeing about. One week with me and Dickie would be as in the olden days. MY love for that kid is not asking but GIVING. He needs a steady hand behind his youth, an understanding heart, and a smile with his mistakes. He loved me when I corrected him, smiled when I caught him because he knew that I meant it for his best, and whenever he danced to the music, he was Dickie all through....

Words, words and more words do not help Dickie. The kid never had an easy time with his parents because he needed more understanding than you could give him. New kids came, and that is nothing new; the oldest had to be put aside. And he is unhappy, losing weight and bony (your words). I am not ashamed to tell you that I am sitting here crying because of the kid, and that is because I saw it all coming a long time ago, but could not do anything....

I was operated on for an appendix about six weeks ago, but because of a bad infection, I could not take the trouble. This means that I spent a week with fever and plenty of chance to leave for good, but I pulled through....

He and his uncle Clarence, who was only a couple of years older, became brothers. Pete treated them both as sons. He taught them lessons by his example. How to groom. How to wash. How to brush and floss their teeth. (Both he and Bessie still had all their teeth, albeit with a few fillings and gold crowns, and would until they died. Amazing, considering that during Pete's early boxing days full mouthguards were forbidden in the ring.) He also taught the two young boys how to clean their room. How to thank Bessie for the delicious meal. How to wash the dishes and clean the kitchen for her as thanks for what she had done for them. He taught them to take out the garbage and do other chores without complaint. He even gave them a few boxing lessons.

Even today Richard has wonderful memories from this period. He also vaguely remembers a day when a man, about Pete's age, came to visit. It was either this man or another good friend of Pete's who did little sleight-of-hand magic tricks with a coin and egg for the boys. Richard can't remember exactly which of these men did the tricks, but he does seem to remember that one of them had a glass eye. Was this Fidel LaBarba, Pete's old friend since they had met in Paris in 1929? At this time Fidel was living in the Los Angeles area and working as an advisor in Hollywood for boxing movies. It is an odd coincidence that both he and Pete were born within months of each other, thousands of miles apart, and both would die within miles and six months of each other.

They all enjoyed the Southern California environment. The beach and the local Nu Pike amusement center were favorite getaways.

A little over a year later Richard returned to Alaska.

In 1962 the Sanstols moved to nearby San Pedro, the harbor of the greater Los Angeles area where countless ships arrive almost daily. San Pedro is also the home to the Norwegian Seamen's Mission as well as the Norwegian Seamen's Church where Pete had many friends.

In its April 28, 1962 issue, the Norwegian magazine Aktuell published a feature article on "Den Blonde Dynamo."

Bessie returned to Alaska in 1962 to bring Richard back home to California a second time. There became a point where Pete and Bessie considered Richard more of a son than a grandson. When he earned a Bible in Sunday School June 23, 1963, it was presented and inscribed to "Richard Sanstol."

In 1963 Bessie's daughters Mildred and Maxine and their children all moved to San Pedro. Sometimes Pete and Bessie would hear odd noises on their front porch very early in the morning and wonder "What in the World?" They climbed out of bed only to find that a few grandchildren had walked over to visit Grandpa and Grandma. They were given a splendid breakfast, perhaps one reason they had come over in the first place.

Of Bessie's many attributes one of her most famous was her cooking. She could spend all day preparing the most wonderful meal ever, then later use the leftovers in a most satisfactory way; or whip up something quickly that was equally as delicious. Her meals were always varied and always homemade. For lunches or dinners she usually placed in the center of the table a plate of sliced cantaloupe, carrots, celery or other healthy treats.

Bessie learned to relish traditional Norwegian food like rye crackers, sardines, lefse and others. Meanwhile Pete was still trying to swallow traditional Alaskan Indian food like herring eggs, dried seaweed, fish heads and gumboots.

Bessie was also known for keeping an immaculate home. Everything was always tidy and clean, and the house smelled great, particularly if there was a meal cooking. As Southern California is well-known for its pesky cockroaches, Bessie made sure that anything edible was sealed in some tightly-closed container and that the toaster was often cleaned of crumbs.

Bessie had what some might describe as, for the lack of better words, an "Indian accent" when she spoke. Pete still possessed the very slightest trace of a Norwegian accent when he spoke English.

Earlier Pete had purchased a red-and-tan-colored Volkswagen bus so that he could drive Bessie, Clarence, his step-daughters and his eleven grandchildren all over Southern California. (Not all at once, of course.) He became famous within his circle of family and friends with that VW. They would sight-see or go on picnics or visit friends.

In late 1963 Millie and Maxine moved their broods to Walla Walla, and shortly thereafter to Spokane where they were living when President Kennedy was assassinated. By the Summer of 1964 Millie's family was living in Everett, Washington, where they had some extended family. These relatives were the children, grandchildren and in-laws of Dick Marshall's sister, Flora Williams. They were the George and Ginger Dick family. Many of that family as well as Millie and Maxine still live there today, as do many of their children.

During this time Pete, Bessie and Clarence moved to the upper apartment of 835 South Grand Avenue where Pete would live out his remaining days.

Every Sunday Pete could be found at his battered old typewriter replying to the many letters and telephone calls he received. He was so well-loved that he received many. In a June 3, 1964 letter to Millie, Pete wrote, "I am sitting here looking at the un-answered letters at my desk, and I have to rush along for the next one."

Pete often wrote to his grandchildren to see how they were coming along, particularly during the mid to late 1960s when most of them were in foster care.

In his letters Pete would usually include that Bessie, Clarence and he were all happy and enjoying life and the memories it offered. He fondly considered memories "Life's Handshake with the Heart--Same Price!"  "And I'm still recuperating!" he'd then quip.

On February 29, 1964, three weeks after The Beatles had invaded America, the Montreal Star recalled one such letter:

Joe Taillefer, well-known member of the golf and curling fraternity, received a letter from his old friend Pete Sanstol this week. There aren't many of the younger generation who have heard of Pete, but he was one of the best fighting machines ever seen in a Canadian ring, and fought here during that great series of bantamweight bouts which featured such notable names as Bobby Leitham, Sixto Escobar, and others. Pete now makes his home in San Pedro, Cal., where he works in a clothing store. He says he lives the simple life, but recalls his lively younger years and asks to be remembered to his many friends....

On May 24th Pete wrote another letter to Millie, apparently in response to a request for money:

Sunday morning. Clarence is right now getting ready to go to his Sunday School, and when he comes home he will eat and then go to his Baseball game. Yes, he is a busy boy all right--and in good health. Mother is, as usual, cleaning the house and getting ready for another day, and I am at my desk trying to figure out what to do next.

1)  Problems? Yes, we all have them. Mother is seeing her doctor tomorrow, and she might have to go for another operation, as the bleeding has started again. And WHAT is behind the bleeding is what scares us right now. I hate to think of that word, which might be her trouble, and only the future will give us an answer. And if it is trouble, we must be ready to face it, live up to it, and also be ready to PAY for it. If we have no money for a hospital, we do not get any service. And mother comes FIRST in my life.

2)  As you know I am using the car to make a living, but I have to keep up payments each month, and it takes money to cover my obligations. I had to take up a loan, but then again the bank does not ask for any explanations, so that is another MUST.

3)  Business has fallen off more than words can express, in other words time is tough. We do not know from day to day what is next, but I keep on punching, giving my very best, hoping that my job will stand by me until the march upward begins. It has to come some day.

Well, Mildred, I could give you more problems to explain my position today. We barely manage to hang on for the time being, hoping that the situation will change soon, and better time will be with us. I do at times feel that I have failed mother with my material support of the family, but I also know that I have tried my very best, and that my sincere love has never failed my family. And that is my understanding of "fair play."

Give the kids our love, tell them that we think of them each day and that we also remember and REMEMBER your stay here.

To all I send my love, Pete.

A story later told by Bessie was that during one of these visits Pete left one of his scrapbooks behind at the Club while he headed off to do something else. He trusted his friends there. The story is unclear at this point, either he was gone for only a short while or longer; anyway the result was the same. The volume had disappeared and no one knew where it was. It is believed that this was the volume of clippings chronicling his fights with Archie Bell and Al Brown for the Bantamweight World Championship. That volume may have also contained clippings about his early amateur and professional years in Europe. We hope it is still out there somewhere and that some day soon it will be returned to Pete's surviving family. Please email us if you have any leads.

Pete was never seen with a violin or paintbrush in his hand during these days. No piece of recorded music or any painting by Pete has been discovered. Apparently these were activities he had undertaken as part of his training during his fighting days only, perhaps to counterbalance the brutality of the sport and to help him develop a rhythm and an artistry in the ring--although the January 1959 issue of The Ring states that art was his first love.

Pete and Bessie enjoyed going for long walks together. Often they went to the local Chinese restaurant where their favorite dish was pork chop suey.

In 1967 Pete and Bessie went to Everett to visit family living there. In the Bible grandson Richard had been awarded in 1963, Pete wrote on July 2, "And here we are again. Memories linger on and we are happy to see what you have made of yourself."

The days passed by and life went on.

It appears from a photocopy of a letter Pete wrote to Bessie in April 1970--which was given to us in December 1999 by Millie--that Pete was scheduled for surgery; he wanted to leave his dear wife with some parting words, just in case he "didn't make it." Click here to read that letter. (Pete either never had that surgery after all, or came through it all right. We do not know the circumstances at this time.)

Perhaps Pete learned that his long-time fan and supporter, Elmer Ferguson, former sports editor of The Montreal Daily Herald, had died April 26, 1972. In 1975 Norwegian magazine Vi Menn interviewed Pete and published yet another retrospective of his life. He was then 70 years old and still fondly remembered.

Apparently Pete still followed boxing. He picked up the March 1975 issue of The Ring magazine. The reason he did, it seems, is because that issue listed the ten greatest bantamweight fighters who ever lived. "Panama" Al Brown was ranked as the second best bantamweight ever. Pete didn't make the list, just a mention as a "loser" to Brown. He possessed that issue until the day he died. Later Bessie, according to Pete's earlier instructions, gave that magazine to this site owner, along with all of Pete's other possessions.

Pete and Bessie went back to the Seattle area to visits friends and relatives in 1976. A photograph caught Pete and Bessie atop the Space Needle with Pete deeply lost in thought--perhaps remembering his early days innn Seattle. Earlier he had always wanted to return to Seattle to live, but did not want to take Clarence away from the school and friends he had known for so long. Pete knew what that was like from his own youth.

A long-time and very good friend of Pete and Bessie was Olav Eltun of Norway. He would always write to Pete and Bessie and drop by to visit for days at a time. Olav was a world traveler. He went everywhere in the Western World: including Scandinavia, Continental Europe, Africa and the United States. Olav, too, had many friends throughout the world.

In the Summer of 1976 grandson Richard moved from Seattle to Los Angeles because he had been accepted into the UCLA School of Law. One major reason he had applied for admission there was so he could be near Pete and Bessie, as both were getting on in years and he wanted to see them as often as possible. He would often take an RTA transit bus, or later drive when he bought a used red Mazda RX2 car, from Westwood to San Pedro to spend weekends and holidays with them. For the next three years he enjoyed keeping company with Pete and Bessie during what turned out to be Pete's last years. They again all had many enjoyable times together, just as in the olden days of the early 1960s.

Richard graduated from the UCLA School of Law in May 1979, then immediately moved back to Washington state to take the bar exam, which he passed. (Coincidentally, Al Brown, whom we believe was Pete's Number One Nemesis of his boxing career, had originally wanted to become a lawyer himself before he became a boxer. Now Pete's eldest grandson had achieved that goal.) It was the last time Richard ever saw Grandpa Pete, the man he had first met in early 1956 when he was just a little over a year old.

Ms. Josefa Andersen wrote a letter to Pete on February 13, 1980:

Dear Mr. Sanstol,

It was with pleasure I read your name in "Nordisk Tidende." Many years have passed, but your name is not forgotten.

I remember you from "Den Norske Kafe" in Chicago. (My parents owned this restaurant for many years.) Followed the stories in the papers since then. You traveled extensively and it was always interesting to read of your experiences. The restaurant was frequented by Norwegians in the 20's. Von Porat, Haakon Hansen, are some of the names you probably recognize. Von Porat is still active but have heard nothing about Haakon Hansen.

Sending you a letter from the Norw. Am. Historical Assn. They are collecting histories of the Norw.-Am. Since you must have many clippings, and I know you wrote quite a bit, thought you might be interested in preserving these things. If you wish xerox copies are acceptable....

Thought you would like to have a few lines from the "Old Town." With Best wishe[s] to you and your wife from one who remembers "those days."

Hilsen,
Josefa Hansen Andersen

Dear Mrs. Andersen:

Many thanks for your nice letter and also the short story of Pete. As you already know that Pete does not remember or write anymore. But he seems happy enough in his own way. Looks fine. Anyway he does keep me on my toes some days. Loves to go out for walks. He cannot go alone so I must be around him at all times.

How I miss the old Pete. Always was busy and outgoing. We had some wonderful years together. Here and in Norway. Spend 3 years there. So if you should visit Olso I am sure you will find quite a few articles about him in some of the publishing offices....

Closing with our best wishes,
Bessie & Pete
 

Many thanks for your Christmas card....

I have not had the opportunity to visit Pete and Bessie Sanstol since I was there last spring. I'm pretty much stuck here on account of an 80 year old sister who is ailing. Can only make "quickie" trips to my old home town Bergen and down to Denmark by ship to buy food. I keep in touch with Bessie Sanstol all the time. She had to have an eye operation in Oct. and had to put Pete in a nursing home temporarily. She is still wearing a patch on her "bad eye" that was operated on and don't see too well on her "good" eye, but the Dr. says she is coming along OK. I had to cancel a planned trip to San Pedro and Seattle this fall. They are trying to get Pete into a Veterans Adm. Hosp. in Long Beach. When writing to her I "print big letters" so she can read them....

Thanks again and greetings,
Olav Eltun

In the absence of his dear wife every moment of each day, and caged in the smothering atmosphere of a convalescent home, the Blond Tiger deteriorated. The once vital and fearless fighter grew weaker.

On October 15, 1981, Dr. Dorin wrote to the Veterans Administration:

To Whom It May Concern:

The above named patient is currently a resident of the Convalescent Harbor Skilled Nursing facility in Torrance. He has a diagnosis of Organic Brain Syndrome and Dementia. Mr. Sanstoll [sic] is very confused and disorientated because of the two diagnosis. Mr. Sanstoll is unable and incompetent to handle any of his affairs. It would be appreciated if Mrs. Sanstoll could sign or be a co-payer for Mr. Sanstol regarding his Veterans affairs.

*****

Then he was hit squarely in the head by a stroke, but it couldn't knock him down. Another stroke brought him to his knees. The last blow finally knocked out the great Peter Olai Sanstol. The former World Champion died at 5:30 on the evening of March 13, 1982--two weeks before his 77th birthday.