Peter Karter, 88, Milwaukee area restaurateur; "The Largest Dining Car in the Midwest"
Hoodoo
By REID J. EPSTEIN
April 27, 2006
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=419322
Peter Karter
http://graphics.jsonline.com/graphics/news/img/apr06/karter042806.jpg
In 1955, people told Peter Karter, then of Waukesha, that he was nuts
for opening the state's first pre-fabricated stainless steel diner.
On the same Blue Mound Road that's now one of the busiest
thoroughfares in the region, Karter opened his eponymous diner that
featured "anything from a hamburger to South African lobster tail" on
the menu, his son, Alec Karter, said.
"They thought he was crazy, moving east in the middle of nowhere
between Milwaukee and Waukesha," Alec Karter said. "There was nothing
there. It was just Highways 16, 18 and 30."
Karter's Diner soon became a fixture in fast-developing Brookfield,
with the family running the restaurant until Peter sold it and tried
to retire in 1970. But he missed the work, and two years later
persuaded Alec to start another restaurant with him.
"It's not an exaggeration," Alec Karter said, "he worked seven days a
week. He did that his whole life."
Peter Karter of Milwaukee died Tuesday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where
he kept a winter home. He was 88.
Born Peter Katritses on Jan. 31, 1918, in Minneapolis, Karter moved
with his parents to their native Greece as a baby. He returned to the
United States as a teenager and worked in restaurants in Michigan and
Erie, Pa.
When the U.S. joined World War II, Karter, who at the time spoke
little English but was an American citizen, tried to join the Army and
Navy but was turned down, his son said. A second attempt at enlistment
in the Navy was successful, and Karter sailed aboard the USS Herbert
and left the service with a rank of chief petty officer.
After the war, Karter came to Waukesha, where family friends were to
set him up with Anne Patrinos. But Karter instead fell in love with
her sister, Mary Jane, and the two married in 1945. Her conditions: He
had to pass on an offer to attend officer training school to stay in
Waukesha and had to Anglicize the family name.
"He had a good job, but my mother said, 'We're going back to
Waukesha,' " Alec Karter said. "She was definitely the boss, except
for business."
And in business he thrived. First at downtown Waukesha's Five Points,
then with "The Largest Dining Car in the Midwest" on Blue Mound Road,
and finally with Karter's Restaurant and Pub on Capitol Drive. At
each, Peter and Mary Jane Karter worked many hours at the restaurants
- he days, she nights - and even took separate vacations so one of
them could always be working.
"He would get to the restaurant at 5:30 in the morning," Alec Karter
said. "He'd come home at 1:30, go for a swim and take a nap. Then at 5
o'clock he'd go back until 8 or 8:30."
Karter is preceded in death by his wife, his brother Thomas Katritses
and sister Rita Halazonitis. He is survived by his son and daughters
Eleni Hoff of Brookfield and Satira Mekras of Vero Beach, Fla.; nine
grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
A visitation is planned for 3 to 6 p.m. Sunday at Krause Funeral Home,
9000 W. Capitol Drive. The Trisagion prayer service will be at 5 p.m.
A second visitation is scheduled for 9:30 to 10 a.m. Monday at
Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, 9400 W. Congress St., with the
funeral to follow. Burial will be at Waukesha's Prairie Home Cemetery.
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