Pete Loeser

Pete Loeser - Morgan Hill, California, USA

Pete´s Personal Flag Loeser Family Flag		FOTW Editors Flag		Vexillologist of the Year 2012

     I was born in Oakland, California in 1944. I received my higher education at the University of California in San Jose, and the University of California in Hayward. I served in the United States Army as an Armor officer both in Fort Knox, Kentucky and in Vietnam. After the military I spent the next 32 years teaching high school in Northern California, first in Laytonville and then Willits. I retired in 2003 after working with multiple generations of students.
     After retirement I began an educational consulting service specialized in teaching instructors of history and social sciences to better utilize technology in the classroom. I also designed and still maintain several websites for businesses and educational organizations.
     I developed an interest in flags after retirement while working with a group of teachers in the "Teaching American History" Institute, where I developed history lessons based on using flags in the classroom, and started my website "Historic Flags of Our Ancestors" to support these units in 2004. It has grown to have information on over 4000 historical flags, all written with the history student in mind, thanks to the support and help of our vexillological community.
     In 2009, I was made the UFE (Unidentified Flag & Ensign) Editor for Flags of the World, and was active in that position for 13 years until I stepped down in 2022. I am also a member of the Flag Institute and of the North American Vexillological Association.
     In 2014, in New Orleans (NAVA 48) I was honored to be named chair of an extremely talented committee of vexillologist, including Peter Ansoff, Jim Ferrigan, Ted Kaye, and Bill Trinkle, to organize the 50th Annual meeting of the NAVA in San Jose. A truly rewarding and instructive experience.
     I have continued contributing my time to both FOTW and NAVA, mainly as website editor and occasional contributor. Perhaps the most rewarding thing about both of these organizations are the like-minded friends I have met and worked with, they truly are a wonderful group of people.
     Currently I provide NAVA with short monthly Vexibits articles plus archiving their past meetings. I continue to act as a "roving editor" for FOTW, which translates as "I get to pick whatever project I want." It's a nice place to be in.
     During all this my wife Marianne (also a retired history teacher) and I have managed to successfully raise four children, and have been rewarded with nine talented grandchildren. We still enjoy traveling and continue to learn.

Pete Loeser, 28 April 2023

Favorite Illustrations:

Although not one of the most proficient graphic artists contributing to FOTW, I have provided some illustrations of flags that are now used on the Flags of the World website and elsewhere. These are the six I have chosen to be displayed, the first two of which are flags I actually designed. You should try it yourself, it is really neat seeing something you designed getting used and actually flying from a flag pole.

20th Anniversary Flag Flags of the World		Flag of the Cahto Tribe Laytonville, California
East Prussia State Flag (presumed) My first attempt done in 2008		Flag of Shell Oil Company Used in the United States
Todd Bear Flag 1846 The "original" California Bear Flag		Herbert Woods Broads Holiday Adventures Inland holiday "for-hire" vessels (United Kingdom)

Past Projects and Honors:

• Between 2009-2022 Pete was the Unidentified Flag & Ensign Editor for Flags of the World, and was active in that position for 13 years until he stepped down in 2022. Pete's updates and gentle encouragement had been regular features of the weekly FOTW postings he founded. His weekly reminders for us to consider these often obscure designs elicited much discussion and debate on the mailing list, which Pete ably captured on the UFE pages. As a result of his efforts, the list members identified 527 out of a total of 1018 contributions - a success rate of nearly 50%.
• FOTW Home Page - Headed project design team 2010
• German Historical and Political Pages - as a member of GET (Germany Editorial Team)
• Nominated for Vexillologist of the Year - 2010
• Pete founded the FOTW Memorial Pages and the Meet the Editors and Staff Pages in 2011.
• Assisted the Cahto Tribe of California choose and design their Cahto Tribe Flag between 2010-2013. He also designed and managed their website during that time.
• Named Vexillologist of the Year 2012 for his relentless effort in updating especially the German pages, being part of the German Editorial Team (GET), but also for his comments on other topics of world flags and for posting up-to-date remarks on both historical and current flags, as well as for being very academic, thorough, and above all, respectful in his comments.
• Pete designed the 20th Anniversary flag for Flags of the World in 2014.
• He became the Planning Committee Chair for NAVA 50 held in San José, California (2016). It marked the 50th Annual Meeting of the North American Vexillological Association.
• Served as the NAVA Web Editor since 2017. At NAVA 56 in St. Augustine, Florida, Pete received a Presidential Citation for his outstanding website conversion work. He is responsible for initiating and authoring the popular Monthly Vexibits feature on the NAVA website.
• Pete with Randy Young added extensive illustration collections and histories for all the National Football League (NFL) teams, and the Major League Baseball (MLB) teams. Pete also did the same for all the Canadian Football League teams.

Contact Information

• e-Mail address of this editor: pal@loeser.us