William Edward Petri

(Taken from his obituary, edited for clarity)

W. E. Petri, one of Washington’s long time merchants and highly respected citizens, passed to his final reward at 1 o’clock Tuesday morning.  He had been ill for the past eight months and retired from the grocery business on June 17 of this year.  Mr. Petri had reached the age of 73 years, 6 months and 26 days.

The Petri Grocery, now operated by Paul Thrailkill, will be closed from noon on today in respect to the former owner.  The other stores and business houses closed during the hour of the service.  

W. E. Petri was born February 22, 1867, at Lacon, Ill., the son of Mathias and Margaret Petri.  His boyhood was spent at Lacon, Rutland and Minonk.  He attended school at El Paso while living in Minonk.  In his youth he learned to be a telegraph operator and was operator at Meadows for four years, from age 20 to 24 and then for 11 years until 1903 he was an operator at Lowder.

On January 3, 1892 he was united in marriage to Miss Emma Reed at Peoria.  On October 4, 1903 Mr. and Mrs. Petri moved to Washington and they opened a notion store where the Building and Loan office is now located.  After a year here they moved to Paxton and operated a store for nine months.  Returning to Washington Mr. and Mrs. Petri operated a dry goods and grocery store for many years and in several different locations around the square.  For the past few years their store has been next to the post office and they operated the grocery store until June 17 when they sold it to the present owner, Paul Thrailkill.

Mr. Petri was a charter member of the Kiwanis club and a regular attendant at all meetings until his illness.  He was also a member of the Masonic Lodge.  For many years he has been a director and took an active part in the affairs of the Building and Loan Association of Washington.

Petri passed away September 17, 1940 and is buried in Glendale Cemetery.