As the year comes to an end, we look back and raise a toast to
commend the life of Gilroy’s Alan Walker, who passed away during
this holiday season. Born and raised on the island of Oahu, Walker
was a mere 17-year-old college student at the University of Hawaii
when the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred. He and his fellow
students assisted in clearing battle rubble from the heart of the
destruction.
As the year comes to an end, we look back and raise a toast to commend the life of Gilroy’s Alan Walker, who passed away during this holiday season. Born and raised on the island of Oahu, Walker was a mere 17-year-old college student at the University of Hawaii when the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred. He and his fellow students assisted in clearing battle rubble from the heart of the destruction.
Walker’s daughter, Deborah Schwarz, recalls, “After graduation and his training in the Army, Dad began his career as an electrical engineer, specializing in telecommunications. It was a career he seemed to thrive at and he kept on working until well past the usual retirement age.”
Walker published frequently in technical journals, presented numerous professional papers, and traveled to every state and many foreign countries.
Schwarz says, “I regret that none of us kids had a very good appreciation for the nature of his work. After Dad’s mind started to be affected by Parkinson’s Disease, we were sorting through his office at home, getting ready for a move. We came across papers he had written, schedules for professional meetings he attended: drawers filled with the memorabilia of a successful life’s work. We knew he had worked a lot, but we never knew how good he was at it.
“Dad had a lifelong love of cars. He bought his first car before he was old enough to legally drive. He read car magazines by the score, Road and Track, Car and Driver, and so on. He acquired some unusual cars; for example I learned to drive on a Hillman Minx convertible. Using a pad of paper clipped to the visor, he kept track of the average miles per gallon for every tank of gas, and if you ever drove one of his cars, you would find a hand lettered graph on the dash board showing the optimal speed to shift from 1st gear into 2nd, 2nd to 3rd and so forth.
“Dad also loved photography magazines and camera equipment. He had dozens of lenses, filters, camera bodies and mountains of photographic slides. Everyone in our family can recall the newly developed slides arriving from Kodak in the mail, tucked in their little boxes, then us gathering together on the sofa to sit in the dark and watch images from the most recent camping trip. Dad was the chronicler of our young lives.”
Walker and wife Pat (short for Patience) raised four children together. They enjoyed a joint birthday celebration with a Hawaiian theme for their 80th birthdays two years ago, and this Fall, they celebrated their 62nd wedding anniversary.
Their devotion to each other was an inspiration to younger couples. The Walkers spent a lot of time together, and when he became ill, she rarely left his side. Touched to see how they were still in love after so many years, a newly married friend repeated her husband’s remark for me: “He says he wants us to be like that.”
“In his earlier days, Dad was what you might call reserved, or even quiet,” his daughter remembers. “As he got older, and perhaps as a result of his illness, he became increasingly more outgoing. In his later years, he never met a stranger he didn’t want to start a conversation with. He’d get that glimmer in his eyes and you could usually predict his next words, something about being from Hawaii, or ‘not bad for a young kid’ or half a dozen other favorite sayings of his.
“We’d all get mildly embarrassed by these Grampa-isms, but one day I ran into an acquaintance of mine who’d stood in line with Dad at the Post Office, and she’d had a great time chatting with him! Imagine my surprise.
“Dad was friendly to everyone. I never heard him have a sharp word for any waitress, clerk, or newfound friend. Although he surely suffered with Parkinson’s Disease, he never complained or bemoaned his fate. My father was a good, honest, intelligent, and hardworking man.
“Dad, if you made it up to Heaven, I hope there are lots of car and photography magazines there, and that you are enjoying them with a big glass of white wine.”
Kat Teraji is communications coordinator for a non-profit organization benefiting women and children. Her column appears every Thursday in the Take 2 section of the Dispatch. Reach her at ka****@ve*****.net.
