Pete Tielborg passed away August 8, 2026, at the age of 84 from complications of lymphoma.
Bernard Peter Tielborg was born on September 28, 1941 in San Francisco, the first of six children born to Nancy Julianna Fitzpatrick Tielborg and Howard Nelson Tielborg.
Pete grew up in Burlingame, California, attending St. Catherine’s grammar school and graduating from Burlingame High School in 1959. He joined the United States Army, being posted to bases in Pennsylvania and Korea, earning the rank of staff sergeant before being honorably discharged.
While back east, he met Alice Elizabeth Dolbow on a blind date, and they were married on June 30, 1962 just before he shipped overseas.
After Pete returned from Korea, he and Alice moved back to California where he worked his way through college, earning a degree in Industrial Management from San Jose State University.
In 1974, the family moved to Kemmerer where Pete took a job with FMC as a safety engineer and personnel manager; a transfer to FMC’s trona mine west of Green River followed in 1978. Pete and Alice divorced in 1985, and he returned to the Bay Area.
After many years in the personnel field, Pete went back to school, quitting his job in San Francisco and selling his car, to complete a master’s degree in behavioral psychology at the College of Notre Dame. In his 50’s he waited tables, tended bar and lived in a basement apartment to cover expenses.
After graduation, he took a job as a deputy probation officer with the San Mateo County Sheriff’s department working with at risk youth, trying to keep them out of the adult prison system.
In his spare time, he counseled kids who had been subjected to emotional, physical and sexual abuse. This work was his true calling, and he made a tremendous difference in the lives of many vulnerable young people.
After retiring, he reconnected with and married his childhood sweetheart, Beatrice Gracey, and they lived many happy years together on a scrap of an old avocado ranch outside of San Diego, where Pete tended fruit trees, worked in his wood shop, built gardens for Bea and fed the swarms of hummingbirds that wintered there.
They loved each other completely, and he devoted himself to BB’s care, comfort and safety as she became more frail. When she died suddenly in August of 2025, Pete was heartbroken, and he struggled without her. In early 2026, he moved to Salt Lake City to be closer to his grandkids, who loved having Grampa Pete over for dinner, Giants games, and kid movies that baffled him. He adored listening to them practice piano because it reminded him of his mother, who was an accomplished musician and teacher.
Pete is survived by his two sons, Patrick and Michael, his siblings Anne, Joan, Patrick and Michael, a niece and two nephews, and two grandchildren. He was predeceased by his youngest sister, Louise Martina.
At his request, there will not be a memorial. His ashes will be buried along side Bea’s. Donations in his name can be made to Breast Cancer Research Foundation, the Alzheimer’s Association or to your local food bank.
