Walter Edwin Keil was born in Tacoma Washington on September 16, 1914, the third of three sons. The first born in 1905 was William Frederick who died at birth. The second in 1908 was his older brother Aaron Arnold. They were all born in the family home his parents built at 56th and South Fife Street. His parents were Louisa M. Wyss Keil and John Frederick Keil. His father was a blacksmith who worked for the railroad in South Tacoma. John was German and his family had immigrated to Missouri sometime in the 1830's or 40's. His mother Louisa was Swiss and her family arrived in Missouri at about the same time.
Aaron and Walter were the first of their generation to be born in the Pacific Northwest as their father John was the oldest and first of his family of 12 siblings – 6 brothers and six sisters - to begin the migration to South Tacoma from the family farm near Prairie Home, Cedron, and California Missouri in about 1900. Eventually five of the six brothers – one died at age 7 – and one of the six sisters all relocated there with their families, the last in arriving around 1935. Two other sisters moved their families to Montana, leaving only three sisters in Missouri.
In 1923 when he was only 9 years old Walter lost his father. Walter continued in school and helped his mother with the little grocery store his father had added on to their house to support them after learning that his illness would be terminal. At Lincoln High School he played the trombone in the school band. He was a gifted cartoonist, and, it was said, a pretty good tap dancer. I never witnessed the latter, but if true, it must have been something to see as he was 6 feet tall and usually over 200 pounds…
After graduating from high school in 1933 Walter took over much of the responsibility for the store. His older brother Aaron had left home soon after his graduation from high school and went on to create a successful business career that eventually resettled him in the southwest. Walter remained in the home with his mother and continued to expand and run the store – now either Keil's Market (on the store stationary) or Keil's Grocery (on the side of the delivery truck) - at first with her and later to support her and his own family, after he married in 1940. He and his wife Dorothy designed and built their own family home a few blocks from the store on 56th and Cushman.
Walter was exempt from military service during WW II – he had cut off his left thumb as a young boy when chopping wood for his mother, had weak vision, operated an essential business, and supported his mother, his mother-in-law and, of course, his own family. But feeling that he needed to do something more for the war effort, in 1943 he left his wife to run the store, went to Seattle and joined the Merchant Marine ATS - Army Transport Service. There he served honorably for a year and a half in the Pacific War Zone as a steward and then chief cook on the United States Army Troop Transport USS General W. C. Gorgas. He was discharged just 3 days before his daughter Kathie was born. In 1946 a son, Walter Jr. was added to the family.
After the war it was a very busy and active time for Walter and his family. He went to school and became a licensed butcher, adding a butcher shop to the store after building a long addition that more than doubled its size. He was handy at fixing and making things – I remember watching him work on repairs and little builds around the house. I still have a little chest of drawers, a work table/desk and one of the grocery store shelves he made when he was young.
In August of 1945 Walter became an apprentice Mason in the Joseph Warren Masonic Lodge, No. 235, F. & A. M. in Tacoma Washington. In May of 1946 he achieved the Masonic 32nd Degree. On October 20, 1953 he was accorded the rank and designation of Knight Commander of the Court of Honour of the 32nd Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. Upon his investiture, he thereafter became Walter E. Keil, 32° KCCH.
Walter was also an active member of the Shriners, a member of Elks Lodge # 174, and an active member of the South Tacoma business community. Just before his death he was in negotiations with the "Piggly Wiggly" Stores, franchiser for hundreds of independently owned grocery stores, with the idea and intention of expanding into more and bigger grocery stores under that franchise.
In the community and in his family Walter was known and remembered as a kind, generous and caring person. He ran "credit" accounts in the store that people paid off to his widow for years after his death – sometimes at $2.00 a month. He was generous to struggling families, always putting something extra into the grocery bags going out for delivery – candy bars or some other little treat or necessity he knew would bring a smile. He unfailingly cared for and helped his large extended family, his huge circle of friends, his neighbors and even strangers. I remember going with him as a very small child to the Union Train Station or the Greyhound Bus Station early on holiday mornings to pick up a soldier or sailor we had never met to join us for holiday meals. In the big blizzard in the winter of 1949/50 he drove the store delivery van to Horace Mann elementary school where I was in Kindergarten and loaded many of the children into the back and "delivered" them to their homes because they were too small to walk home in the deep snow and their parents couldn't get out to get them.
Walter was an avid fisherman and he loved to hunt. In 1990 my brother – his son – Wally purchased a home in Lakewood on the confluence of Flett and Chamber's creeks. He found out later, after he'd lived there and loved it for a while, that the very spot, before the house was built, had been a favorite fishing spot of his father and his cousin when they were boys.
He loved animals – a quality that has continued down through the family to his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Our big black and white cat Skippy would wait on a stepping stone by the garage every evening till he came home from the store. Walter would get out of the truck, open the garage door, pick Skippy up and put him on the seat of the truck and drive into the garage. After he died, Skippy sat on that stepping stone every night for weeks, waiting for him to come home.
I will never forget "our" Sundays. That was the day my father and I would take off for the day, just the two of us. He and I must have had a great deal in common, as even at so young an age we'd have such a great time. We'd go to the Point Defiance Zoo where I just loved Dub Dub the seal and the bears and the "effelants". We'd explore one of my favorite places, Fort Nisqually, right there in the park, or go to Owen beach, there too. We went to Wright's Park and the fascinating Conservatory there. We'd visit Flett Dairy – Mr. Flett was a friend and he'd let my brother and me feed the little calves with bottles. We'd go to buy eggs at a chicken farm somewhere in Fife. Sometimes we'd cruise old South Tacoma where he grew up and I'd get an ice cream soda at the real, old time soda fountain in Ludwig's Drug store… like just about everyone else in South Tacoma, Mr. Ludwig was a good friend of his too. We'd sometimes have burgers at the little lunch counter of another good friend – Ralph's Diner, I think it was.
He loved to take the family out to dinner. I remember the crush of music and laughter when we'd have dinner at one of the old, straight-out-of-the-40's restaurants on Pacific Avenue in old downtown Tacoma – especially the seafood one, though I don't remember the name. Then, of course there were the fabulous buffet dinners at the Top of the Ocean where my brother and I would sit on the edge of the dance floor and watch the dancing to the big bands that played there. We'd sit at the counter for friendly meals at the Flying Boots Café on 38th Street. We'd go for the great burgers at Busch's Barrel drive-in and Chinese food at the Golden Dragon in South Tacoma, with the old fashioned juke boxes in each booth.
Christmas time seemed magical. I remember the lovely shimmer of the Christmas tree lightings in the rain in downtown Tacoma. We'd go downtown for the tree lighting and then out to dinner in one of those warm, brightly lit restaurants. Everything sparkled and twinkled. We'd shop for little treats and sundries at the Dime Stores – the old fashioned ones, just like in the movies… one up at the little M Street shopping area on 56th Street and the other over on 38th. We'd go to the gorgeous Daffodil Parade every spring. In the summer we'd go swimming at Wapato Lake and in the evenings to Alling Park to watch the dances in the old wooden pavilion that was there then. The incredible Puyallup Fair was a school holiday in Tacoma every fall. That was in the days when they still had horse races and rodeos and "Nettie's" restaurant right there on the fairgrounds. Halloween was such fun with costumes and decorations and trick-or-treating what seemed like all over South Tacoma. I remember the incredible experience one unusually cold and snowy winter… maybe 1949/50 again… when it snowed and snowed. Everyone went to Wapato Park and skated on the frozen lake and sledded down the big hill out onto the lake. There were bonfires on the shore and someone who lived on the west side of the lake had a pipe organ and sound system and they played music that carried out over the lake. It was exactly like the old pictures you see of winters in Central Park.
Sometimes, especially on cold fall and winter mornings we could clearly hear the jet plane engines warming up at McCord Air Force base and sometimes we'd hear the guns and artillery during military exercises at Fort Lewis. Those never felt scary – we just felt very safe. Once little slips of flimsy foil came down from the sky like rain – it must have been some sort of radar jamming exercise or experiment.
In the very early 50's Walter brought home the first television in the neighborhood. After they set it up the very first thing that came on was the evening news on King 5. I remember him insisting that I sit down and watch the coronation of Queen Elizabeth on June 2, 1953 because he said "For the rest of my life I'd always remember that I had seen it". Sure enough, I do.
Sometimes we'd take little "road trips". Paradise Lodge at Mount Rainier and Copalis beach at the ocean were two favorite day trip destinations. We'd take the whole family, often taking several cars – grandmothers and aunts and uncles and any of the frequent out of town family visitors too. Sometimes we'd take the boat to Victoria – that was a memorable trip… The Empress hotel, the horse drawn tour carriages and the lovely Butchart Gardens were favorites.
Tacoma was a wonderful place to grow up in those post-war years and into the 50's. It had very much a small town, almost Midwestern feel. It felt safe and comfortable and friendly and warm and it seemed, at least in South Tacoma, that everyone was related and/or knew each other. Peoples' doors were open all the time in nice weather and we were in and out of each other's houses all the time. We – all the neighborhood kids - would pack lunches and ride our bikes or roller skate all over South Tacoma. We were usually gone all day. Our mothers had no idea where we were and apparently never worried about us. We'd often play outside in the neighborhood until well after dark.
Sadly, in the spring of 1953 Walter became ill with an odd variety of symptoms that turned out to be non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He died on November 25th 1953, Thanksgiving eve, at the age of 39, just a few months after he was diagnosed. He died in the Hotel Constance in Pasadena California where he had travelled seeking a miracle treatment from John E. Gregory M.D at the Loma Linda Medical Center. He left his wife, 9 year old daughter and his son, who turned 7 three days later. His family and friends were devastated at his untimely loss. He was given a Masonic Rose Croix Funeral Ceremony and his funeral procession from the old Piper Funeral Home in South Tacoma to his grave in Mountain View Cemetery was said to have been two miles long. I suspect that this may have been a kind exaggeration, although it was an impressive event, even to a stunned 9 year old.
Our father created a wonderful life for us and when he died much of it died too for my brother and me. His loss had a lifelong impact upon many lives. His mother was moved to El Paso Texas to be with her son Aaron and his family there. We never saw her again, a regret that lingers to this day. His wife struggled for some time but remarried in 1957 and in 1958 she sold the home and store and we moved to Bellevue. After that all traces of our old life were gone and nothing was ever the same again. Neither of his children ever really fully recovered from the loss.
His was a short but very special life. I miss him still. I always will. As the last holder of these memories I'm happy to share them with you. They're very precious to me.
His daughter
Kathie Keil Crozier
June 26, 2017
Aaron and Walter were the first of their generation to be born in the Pacific Northwest as their father John was the oldest and first of his family of 12 siblings – 6 brothers and six sisters - to begin the migration to South Tacoma from the family farm near Prairie Home, Cedron, and California Missouri in about 1900. Eventually five of the six brothers – one died at age 7 – and one of the six sisters all relocated there with their families, the last in arriving around 1935. Two other sisters moved their families to Montana, leaving only three sisters in Missouri.
In 1923 when he was only 9 years old Walter lost his father. Walter continued in school and helped his mother with the little grocery store his father had added on to their house to support them after learning that his illness would be terminal. At Lincoln High School he played the trombone in the school band. He was a gifted cartoonist, and, it was said, a pretty good tap dancer. I never witnessed the latter, but if true, it must have been something to see as he was 6 feet tall and usually over 200 pounds…
After graduating from high school in 1933 Walter took over much of the responsibility for the store. His older brother Aaron had left home soon after his graduation from high school and went on to create a successful business career that eventually resettled him in the southwest. Walter remained in the home with his mother and continued to expand and run the store – now either Keil's Market (on the store stationary) or Keil's Grocery (on the side of the delivery truck) - at first with her and later to support her and his own family, after he married in 1940. He and his wife Dorothy designed and built their own family home a few blocks from the store on 56th and Cushman.
Walter was exempt from military service during WW II – he had cut off his left thumb as a young boy when chopping wood for his mother, had weak vision, operated an essential business, and supported his mother, his mother-in-law and, of course, his own family. But feeling that he needed to do something more for the war effort, in 1943 he left his wife to run the store, went to Seattle and joined the Merchant Marine ATS - Army Transport Service. There he served honorably for a year and a half in the Pacific War Zone as a steward and then chief cook on the United States Army Troop Transport USS General W. C. Gorgas. He was discharged just 3 days before his daughter Kathie was born. In 1946 a son, Walter Jr. was added to the family.
After the war it was a very busy and active time for Walter and his family. He went to school and became a licensed butcher, adding a butcher shop to the store after building a long addition that more than doubled its size. He was handy at fixing and making things – I remember watching him work on repairs and little builds around the house. I still have a little chest of drawers, a work table/desk and one of the grocery store shelves he made when he was young.
In August of 1945 Walter became an apprentice Mason in the Joseph Warren Masonic Lodge, No. 235, F. & A. M. in Tacoma Washington. In May of 1946 he achieved the Masonic 32nd Degree. On October 20, 1953 he was accorded the rank and designation of Knight Commander of the Court of Honour of the 32nd Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. Upon his investiture, he thereafter became Walter E. Keil, 32° KCCH.
Walter was also an active member of the Shriners, a member of Elks Lodge # 174, and an active member of the South Tacoma business community. Just before his death he was in negotiations with the "Piggly Wiggly" Stores, franchiser for hundreds of independently owned grocery stores, with the idea and intention of expanding into more and bigger grocery stores under that franchise.
In the community and in his family Walter was known and remembered as a kind, generous and caring person. He ran "credit" accounts in the store that people paid off to his widow for years after his death – sometimes at $2.00 a month. He was generous to struggling families, always putting something extra into the grocery bags going out for delivery – candy bars or some other little treat or necessity he knew would bring a smile. He unfailingly cared for and helped his large extended family, his huge circle of friends, his neighbors and even strangers. I remember going with him as a very small child to the Union Train Station or the Greyhound Bus Station early on holiday mornings to pick up a soldier or sailor we had never met to join us for holiday meals. In the big blizzard in the winter of 1949/50 he drove the store delivery van to Horace Mann elementary school where I was in Kindergarten and loaded many of the children into the back and "delivered" them to their homes because they were too small to walk home in the deep snow and their parents couldn't get out to get them.
Walter was an avid fisherman and he loved to hunt. In 1990 my brother – his son – Wally purchased a home in Lakewood on the confluence of Flett and Chamber's creeks. He found out later, after he'd lived there and loved it for a while, that the very spot, before the house was built, had been a favorite fishing spot of his father and his cousin when they were boys.
He loved animals – a quality that has continued down through the family to his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Our big black and white cat Skippy would wait on a stepping stone by the garage every evening till he came home from the store. Walter would get out of the truck, open the garage door, pick Skippy up and put him on the seat of the truck and drive into the garage. After he died, Skippy sat on that stepping stone every night for weeks, waiting for him to come home.
I will never forget "our" Sundays. That was the day my father and I would take off for the day, just the two of us. He and I must have had a great deal in common, as even at so young an age we'd have such a great time. We'd go to the Point Defiance Zoo where I just loved Dub Dub the seal and the bears and the "effelants". We'd explore one of my favorite places, Fort Nisqually, right there in the park, or go to Owen beach, there too. We went to Wright's Park and the fascinating Conservatory there. We'd visit Flett Dairy – Mr. Flett was a friend and he'd let my brother and me feed the little calves with bottles. We'd go to buy eggs at a chicken farm somewhere in Fife. Sometimes we'd cruise old South Tacoma where he grew up and I'd get an ice cream soda at the real, old time soda fountain in Ludwig's Drug store… like just about everyone else in South Tacoma, Mr. Ludwig was a good friend of his too. We'd sometimes have burgers at the little lunch counter of another good friend – Ralph's Diner, I think it was.
He loved to take the family out to dinner. I remember the crush of music and laughter when we'd have dinner at one of the old, straight-out-of-the-40's restaurants on Pacific Avenue in old downtown Tacoma – especially the seafood one, though I don't remember the name. Then, of course there were the fabulous buffet dinners at the Top of the Ocean where my brother and I would sit on the edge of the dance floor and watch the dancing to the big bands that played there. We'd sit at the counter for friendly meals at the Flying Boots Café on 38th Street. We'd go for the great burgers at Busch's Barrel drive-in and Chinese food at the Golden Dragon in South Tacoma, with the old fashioned juke boxes in each booth.
Christmas time seemed magical. I remember the lovely shimmer of the Christmas tree lightings in the rain in downtown Tacoma. We'd go downtown for the tree lighting and then out to dinner in one of those warm, brightly lit restaurants. Everything sparkled and twinkled. We'd shop for little treats and sundries at the Dime Stores – the old fashioned ones, just like in the movies… one up at the little M Street shopping area on 56th Street and the other over on 38th. We'd go to the gorgeous Daffodil Parade every spring. In the summer we'd go swimming at Wapato Lake and in the evenings to Alling Park to watch the dances in the old wooden pavilion that was there then. The incredible Puyallup Fair was a school holiday in Tacoma every fall. That was in the days when they still had horse races and rodeos and "Nettie's" restaurant right there on the fairgrounds. Halloween was such fun with costumes and decorations and trick-or-treating what seemed like all over South Tacoma. I remember the incredible experience one unusually cold and snowy winter… maybe 1949/50 again… when it snowed and snowed. Everyone went to Wapato Park and skated on the frozen lake and sledded down the big hill out onto the lake. There were bonfires on the shore and someone who lived on the west side of the lake had a pipe organ and sound system and they played music that carried out over the lake. It was exactly like the old pictures you see of winters in Central Park.
Sometimes, especially on cold fall and winter mornings we could clearly hear the jet plane engines warming up at McCord Air Force base and sometimes we'd hear the guns and artillery during military exercises at Fort Lewis. Those never felt scary – we just felt very safe. Once little slips of flimsy foil came down from the sky like rain – it must have been some sort of radar jamming exercise or experiment.
In the very early 50's Walter brought home the first television in the neighborhood. After they set it up the very first thing that came on was the evening news on King 5. I remember him insisting that I sit down and watch the coronation of Queen Elizabeth on June 2, 1953 because he said "For the rest of my life I'd always remember that I had seen it". Sure enough, I do.
Sometimes we'd take little "road trips". Paradise Lodge at Mount Rainier and Copalis beach at the ocean were two favorite day trip destinations. We'd take the whole family, often taking several cars – grandmothers and aunts and uncles and any of the frequent out of town family visitors too. Sometimes we'd take the boat to Victoria – that was a memorable trip… The Empress hotel, the horse drawn tour carriages and the lovely Butchart Gardens were favorites.
Tacoma was a wonderful place to grow up in those post-war years and into the 50's. It had very much a small town, almost Midwestern feel. It felt safe and comfortable and friendly and warm and it seemed, at least in South Tacoma, that everyone was related and/or knew each other. Peoples' doors were open all the time in nice weather and we were in and out of each other's houses all the time. We – all the neighborhood kids - would pack lunches and ride our bikes or roller skate all over South Tacoma. We were usually gone all day. Our mothers had no idea where we were and apparently never worried about us. We'd often play outside in the neighborhood until well after dark.
Sadly, in the spring of 1953 Walter became ill with an odd variety of symptoms that turned out to be non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He died on November 25th 1953, Thanksgiving eve, at the age of 39, just a few months after he was diagnosed. He died in the Hotel Constance in Pasadena California where he had travelled seeking a miracle treatment from John E. Gregory M.D at the Loma Linda Medical Center. He left his wife, 9 year old daughter and his son, who turned 7 three days later. His family and friends were devastated at his untimely loss. He was given a Masonic Rose Croix Funeral Ceremony and his funeral procession from the old Piper Funeral Home in South Tacoma to his grave in Mountain View Cemetery was said to have been two miles long. I suspect that this may have been a kind exaggeration, although it was an impressive event, even to a stunned 9 year old.
Our father created a wonderful life for us and when he died much of it died too for my brother and me. His loss had a lifelong impact upon many lives. His mother was moved to El Paso Texas to be with her son Aaron and his family there. We never saw her again, a regret that lingers to this day. His wife struggled for some time but remarried in 1957 and in 1958 she sold the home and store and we moved to Bellevue. After that all traces of our old life were gone and nothing was ever the same again. Neither of his children ever really fully recovered from the loss.
His was a short but very special life. I miss him still. I always will. As the last holder of these memories I'm happy to share them with you. They're very precious to me.
His daughter
Kathie Keil Crozier
June 26, 2017
Walter Edwin Keil was born in Tacoma Washington on September 16, 1914, the third of three sons. The first born in 1905 was William Frederick who died at birth. The second in 1908 was his older brother Aaron Arnold. They were all born in the family home his parents built at 56th and South Fife Street. His parents were Louisa M. Wyss Keil and John Frederick Keil. His father was a blacksmith who worked for the railroad in South Tacoma. John was German and his family had immigrated to Missouri sometime in the 1830's or 40's. His mother Louisa was Swiss and her family arrived in Missouri at about the same time.
Aaron and Walter were the first of their generation to be born in the Pacific Northwest as their father John was the oldest and first of his family of 12 siblings – 6 brothers and six sisters - to begin the migration to South Tacoma from the family farm near Prairie Home, Cedron, and California Missouri in about 1900. Eventually five of the six brothers – one died at age 7 – and one of the six sisters all relocated there with their families, the last in arriving around 1935. Two other sisters moved their families to Montana, leaving only three sisters in Missouri.
In 1923 when he was only 9 years old Walter lost his father. Walter continued in school and helped his mother with the little grocery store his father had added on to their house to support them after learning that his illness would be terminal. At Lincoln High School he played the trombone in the school band. He was a gifted cartoonist, and, it was said, a pretty good tap dancer. I never witnessed the latter, but if true, it must have been something to see as he was 6 feet tall and usually over 200 pounds…
After graduating from high school in 1933 Walter took over much of the responsibility for the store. His older brother Aaron had left home soon after his graduation from high school and went on to create a successful business career that eventually resettled him in the southwest. Walter remained in the home with his mother and continued to expand and run the store – now either Keil's Market (on the store stationary) or Keil's Grocery (on the side of the delivery truck) - at first with her and later to support her and his own family, after he married in 1940. He and his wife Dorothy designed and built their own family home a few blocks from the store on 56th and Cushman.
Walter was exempt from military service during WW II – he had cut off his left thumb as a young boy when chopping wood for his mother, had weak vision, operated an essential business, and supported his mother, his mother-in-law and, of course, his own family. But feeling that he needed to do something more for the war effort, in 1943 he left his wife to run the store, went to Seattle and joined the Merchant Marine ATS - Army Transport Service. There he served honorably for a year and a half in the Pacific War Zone as a steward and then chief cook on the United States Army Troop Transport USS General W. C. Gorgas. He was discharged just 3 days before his daughter Kathie was born. In 1946 a son, Walter Jr. was added to the family.
After the war it was a very busy and active time for Walter and his family. He went to school and became a licensed butcher, adding a butcher shop to the store after building a long addition that more than doubled its size. He was handy at fixing and making things – I remember watching him work on repairs and little builds around the house. I still have a little chest of drawers, a work table/desk and one of the grocery store shelves he made when he was young.
In August of 1945 Walter became an apprentice Mason in the Joseph Warren Masonic Lodge, No. 235, F. & A. M. in Tacoma Washington. In May of 1946 he achieved the Masonic 32nd Degree. On October 20, 1953 he was accorded the rank and designation of Knight Commander of the Court of Honour of the 32nd Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. Upon his investiture, he thereafter became Walter E. Keil, 32° KCCH.
Walter was also an active member of the Shriners, a member of Elks Lodge # 174, and an active member of the South Tacoma business community. Just before his death he was in negotiations with the "Piggly Wiggly" Stores, franchiser for hundreds of independently owned grocery stores, with the idea and intention of expanding into more and bigger grocery stores under that franchise.
In the community and in his family Walter was known and remembered as a kind, generous and caring person. He ran "credit" accounts in the store that people paid off to his widow for years after his death – sometimes at $2.00 a month. He was generous to struggling families, always putting something extra into the grocery bags going out for delivery – candy bars or some other little treat or necessity he knew would bring a smile. He unfailingly cared for and helped his large extended family, his huge circle of friends, his neighbors and even strangers. I remember going with him as a very small child to the Union Train Station or the Greyhound Bus Station early on holiday mornings to pick up a soldier or sailor we had never met to join us for holiday meals. In the big blizzard in the winter of 1949/50 he drove the store delivery van to Horace Mann elementary school where I was in Kindergarten and loaded many of the children into the back and "delivered" them to their homes because they were too small to walk home in the deep snow and their parents couldn't get out to get them.
Walter was an avid fisherman and he loved to hunt. In 1990 my brother – his son – Wally purchased a home in Lakewood on the confluence of Flett and Chamber's creeks. He found out later, after he'd lived there and loved it for a while, that the very spot, before the house was built, had been a favorite fishing spot of his father and his cousin when they were boys.
He loved animals – a quality that has continued down through the family to his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Our big black and white cat Skippy would wait on a stepping stone by the garage every evening till he came home from the store. Walter would get out of the truck, open the garage door, pick Skippy up and put him on the seat of the truck and drive into the garage. After he died, Skippy sat on that stepping stone every night for weeks, waiting for him to come home.
I will never forget "our" Sundays. That was the day my father and I would take off for the day, just the two of us. He and I must have had a great deal in common, as even at so young an age we'd have such a great time. We'd go to the Point Defiance Zoo where I just loved Dub Dub the seal and the bears and the "effelants". We'd explore one of my favorite places, Fort Nisqually, right there in the park, or go to Owen beach, there too. We went to Wright's Park and the fascinating Conservatory there. We'd visit Flett Dairy – Mr. Flett was a friend and he'd let my brother and me feed the little calves with bottles. We'd go to buy eggs at a chicken farm somewhere in Fife. Sometimes we'd cruise old South Tacoma where he grew up and I'd get an ice cream soda at the real, old time soda fountain in Ludwig's Drug store… like just about everyone else in South Tacoma, Mr. Ludwig was a good friend of his too. We'd sometimes have burgers at the little lunch counter of another good friend – Ralph's Diner, I think it was.
He loved to take the family out to dinner. I remember the crush of music and laughter when we'd have dinner at one of the old, straight-out-of-the-40's restaurants on Pacific Avenue in old downtown Tacoma – especially the seafood one, though I don't remember the name. Then, of course there were the fabulous buffet dinners at the Top of the Ocean where my brother and I would sit on the edge of the dance floor and watch the dancing to the big bands that played there. We'd sit at the counter for friendly meals at the Flying Boots Café on 38th Street. We'd go for the great burgers at Busch's Barrel drive-in and Chinese food at the Golden Dragon in South Tacoma, with the old fashioned juke boxes in each booth.
Christmas time seemed magical. I remember the lovely shimmer of the Christmas tree lightings in the rain in downtown Tacoma. We'd go downtown for the tree lighting and then out to dinner in one of those warm, brightly lit restaurants. Everything sparkled and twinkled. We'd shop for little treats and sundries at the Dime Stores – the old fashioned ones, just like in the movies… one up at the little M Street shopping area on 56th Street and the other over on 38th. We'd go to the gorgeous Daffodil Parade every spring. In the summer we'd go swimming at Wapato Lake and in the evenings to Alling Park to watch the dances in the old wooden pavilion that was there then. The incredible Puyallup Fair was a school holiday in Tacoma every fall. That was in the days when they still had horse races and rodeos and "Nettie's" restaurant right there on the fairgrounds. Halloween was such fun with costumes and decorations and trick-or-treating what seemed like all over South Tacoma. I remember the incredible experience one unusually cold and snowy winter… maybe 1949/50 again… when it snowed and snowed. Everyone went to Wapato Park and skated on the frozen lake and sledded down the big hill out onto the lake. There were bonfires on the shore and someone who lived on the west side of the lake had a pipe organ and sound system and they played music that carried out over the lake. It was exactly like the old pictures you see of winters in Central Park.
Sometimes, especially on cold fall and winter mornings we could clearly hear the jet plane engines warming up at McCord Air Force base and sometimes we'd hear the guns and artillery during military exercises at Fort Lewis. Those never felt scary – we just felt very safe. Once little slips of flimsy foil came down from the sky like rain – it must have been some sort of radar jamming exercise or experiment.
In the very early 50's Walter brought home the first television in the neighborhood. After they set it up the very first thing that came on was the evening news on King 5. I remember him insisting that I sit down and watch the coronation of Queen Elizabeth on June 2, 1953 because he said "For the rest of my life I'd always remember that I had seen it". Sure enough, I do.
Sometimes we'd take little "road trips". Paradise Lodge at Mount Rainier and Copalis beach at the ocean were two favorite day trip destinations. We'd take the whole family, often taking several cars – grandmothers and aunts and uncles and any of the frequent out of town family visitors too. Sometimes we'd take the boat to Victoria – that was a memorable trip… The Empress hotel, the horse drawn tour carriages and the lovely Butchart Gardens were favorites.
Tacoma was a wonderful place to grow up in those post-war years and into the 50's. It had very much a small town, almost Midwestern feel. It felt safe and comfortable and friendly and warm and it seemed, at least in South Tacoma, that everyone was related and/or knew each other. Peoples' doors were open all the time in nice weather and we were in and out of each other's houses all the time. We – all the neighborhood kids - would pack lunches and ride our bikes or roller skate all over South Tacoma. We were usually gone all day. Our mothers had no idea where we were and apparently never worried about us. We'd often play outside in the neighborhood until well after dark.
Sadly, in the spring of 1953 Walter became ill with an odd variety of symptoms that turned out to be non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He died on November 25th 1953, Thanksgiving eve, at the age of 39, just a few months after he was diagnosed. He died in the Hotel Constance in Pasadena California where he had travelled seeking a miracle treatment from John E. Gregory M.D at the Loma Linda Medical Center. He left his wife, 9 year old daughter and his son, who turned 7 three days later. His family and friends were devastated at his untimely loss. He was given a Masonic Rose Croix Funeral Ceremony and his funeral procession from the old Piper Funeral Home in South Tacoma to his grave in Mountain View Cemetery was said to have been two miles long. I suspect that this may have been a kind exaggeration, although it was an impressive event, even to a stunned 9 year old.
Our father created a wonderful life for us and when he died much of it died too for my brother and me. His loss had a lifelong impact upon many lives. His mother was moved to El Paso Texas to be with her son Aaron and his family there. We never saw her again, a regret that lingers to this day. His wife struggled for some time but remarried in 1957 and in 1958 she sold the home and store and we moved to Bellevue. After that all traces of our old life were gone and nothing was ever the same again. Neither of his children ever really fully recovered from the loss.
His was a short but very special life. I miss him still. I always will. As the last holder of these memories I'm happy to share them with you. They're very precious to me.
His daughter
Kathie Keil Crozier
June 26, 2017
Aaron and Walter were the first of their generation to be born in the Pacific Northwest as their father John was the oldest and first of his family of 12 siblings – 6 brothers and six sisters - to begin the migration to South Tacoma from the family farm near Prairie Home, Cedron, and California Missouri in about 1900. Eventually five of the six brothers – one died at age 7 – and one of the six sisters all relocated there with their families, the last in arriving around 1935. Two other sisters moved their families to Montana, leaving only three sisters in Missouri.
In 1923 when he was only 9 years old Walter lost his father. Walter continued in school and helped his mother with the little grocery store his father had added on to their house to support them after learning that his illness would be terminal. At Lincoln High School he played the trombone in the school band. He was a gifted cartoonist, and, it was said, a pretty good tap dancer. I never witnessed the latter, but if true, it must have been something to see as he was 6 feet tall and usually over 200 pounds…
After graduating from high school in 1933 Walter took over much of the responsibility for the store. His older brother Aaron had left home soon after his graduation from high school and went on to create a successful business career that eventually resettled him in the southwest. Walter remained in the home with his mother and continued to expand and run the store – now either Keil's Market (on the store stationary) or Keil's Grocery (on the side of the delivery truck) - at first with her and later to support her and his own family, after he married in 1940. He and his wife Dorothy designed and built their own family home a few blocks from the store on 56th and Cushman.
Walter was exempt from military service during WW II – he had cut off his left thumb as a young boy when chopping wood for his mother, had weak vision, operated an essential business, and supported his mother, his mother-in-law and, of course, his own family. But feeling that he needed to do something more for the war effort, in 1943 he left his wife to run the store, went to Seattle and joined the Merchant Marine ATS - Army Transport Service. There he served honorably for a year and a half in the Pacific War Zone as a steward and then chief cook on the United States Army Troop Transport USS General W. C. Gorgas. He was discharged just 3 days before his daughter Kathie was born. In 1946 a son, Walter Jr. was added to the family.
After the war it was a very busy and active time for Walter and his family. He went to school and became a licensed butcher, adding a butcher shop to the store after building a long addition that more than doubled its size. He was handy at fixing and making things – I remember watching him work on repairs and little builds around the house. I still have a little chest of drawers, a work table/desk and one of the grocery store shelves he made when he was young.
In August of 1945 Walter became an apprentice Mason in the Joseph Warren Masonic Lodge, No. 235, F. & A. M. in Tacoma Washington. In May of 1946 he achieved the Masonic 32nd Degree. On October 20, 1953 he was accorded the rank and designation of Knight Commander of the Court of Honour of the 32nd Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. Upon his investiture, he thereafter became Walter E. Keil, 32° KCCH.
Walter was also an active member of the Shriners, a member of Elks Lodge # 174, and an active member of the South Tacoma business community. Just before his death he was in negotiations with the "Piggly Wiggly" Stores, franchiser for hundreds of independently owned grocery stores, with the idea and intention of expanding into more and bigger grocery stores under that franchise.
In the community and in his family Walter was known and remembered as a kind, generous and caring person. He ran "credit" accounts in the store that people paid off to his widow for years after his death – sometimes at $2.00 a month. He was generous to struggling families, always putting something extra into the grocery bags going out for delivery – candy bars or some other little treat or necessity he knew would bring a smile. He unfailingly cared for and helped his large extended family, his huge circle of friends, his neighbors and even strangers. I remember going with him as a very small child to the Union Train Station or the Greyhound Bus Station early on holiday mornings to pick up a soldier or sailor we had never met to join us for holiday meals. In the big blizzard in the winter of 1949/50 he drove the store delivery van to Horace Mann elementary school where I was in Kindergarten and loaded many of the children into the back and "delivered" them to their homes because they were too small to walk home in the deep snow and their parents couldn't get out to get them.
Walter was an avid fisherman and he loved to hunt. In 1990 my brother – his son – Wally purchased a home in Lakewood on the confluence of Flett and Chamber's creeks. He found out later, after he'd lived there and loved it for a while, that the very spot, before the house was built, had been a favorite fishing spot of his father and his cousin when they were boys.
He loved animals – a quality that has continued down through the family to his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Our big black and white cat Skippy would wait on a stepping stone by the garage every evening till he came home from the store. Walter would get out of the truck, open the garage door, pick Skippy up and put him on the seat of the truck and drive into the garage. After he died, Skippy sat on that stepping stone every night for weeks, waiting for him to come home.
I will never forget "our" Sundays. That was the day my father and I would take off for the day, just the two of us. He and I must have had a great deal in common, as even at so young an age we'd have such a great time. We'd go to the Point Defiance Zoo where I just loved Dub Dub the seal and the bears and the "effelants". We'd explore one of my favorite places, Fort Nisqually, right there in the park, or go to Owen beach, there too. We went to Wright's Park and the fascinating Conservatory there. We'd visit Flett Dairy – Mr. Flett was a friend and he'd let my brother and me feed the little calves with bottles. We'd go to buy eggs at a chicken farm somewhere in Fife. Sometimes we'd cruise old South Tacoma where he grew up and I'd get an ice cream soda at the real, old time soda fountain in Ludwig's Drug store… like just about everyone else in South Tacoma, Mr. Ludwig was a good friend of his too. We'd sometimes have burgers at the little lunch counter of another good friend – Ralph's Diner, I think it was.
He loved to take the family out to dinner. I remember the crush of music and laughter when we'd have dinner at one of the old, straight-out-of-the-40's restaurants on Pacific Avenue in old downtown Tacoma – especially the seafood one, though I don't remember the name. Then, of course there were the fabulous buffet dinners at the Top of the Ocean where my brother and I would sit on the edge of the dance floor and watch the dancing to the big bands that played there. We'd sit at the counter for friendly meals at the Flying Boots Café on 38th Street. We'd go for the great burgers at Busch's Barrel drive-in and Chinese food at the Golden Dragon in South Tacoma, with the old fashioned juke boxes in each booth.
Christmas time seemed magical. I remember the lovely shimmer of the Christmas tree lightings in the rain in downtown Tacoma. We'd go downtown for the tree lighting and then out to dinner in one of those warm, brightly lit restaurants. Everything sparkled and twinkled. We'd shop for little treats and sundries at the Dime Stores – the old fashioned ones, just like in the movies… one up at the little M Street shopping area on 56th Street and the other over on 38th. We'd go to the gorgeous Daffodil Parade every spring. In the summer we'd go swimming at Wapato Lake and in the evenings to Alling Park to watch the dances in the old wooden pavilion that was there then. The incredible Puyallup Fair was a school holiday in Tacoma every fall. That was in the days when they still had horse races and rodeos and "Nettie's" restaurant right there on the fairgrounds. Halloween was such fun with costumes and decorations and trick-or-treating what seemed like all over South Tacoma. I remember the incredible experience one unusually cold and snowy winter… maybe 1949/50 again… when it snowed and snowed. Everyone went to Wapato Park and skated on the frozen lake and sledded down the big hill out onto the lake. There were bonfires on the shore and someone who lived on the west side of the lake had a pipe organ and sound system and they played music that carried out over the lake. It was exactly like the old pictures you see of winters in Central Park.
Sometimes, especially on cold fall and winter mornings we could clearly hear the jet plane engines warming up at McCord Air Force base and sometimes we'd hear the guns and artillery during military exercises at Fort Lewis. Those never felt scary – we just felt very safe. Once little slips of flimsy foil came down from the sky like rain – it must have been some sort of radar jamming exercise or experiment.
In the very early 50's Walter brought home the first television in the neighborhood. After they set it up the very first thing that came on was the evening news on King 5. I remember him insisting that I sit down and watch the coronation of Queen Elizabeth on June 2, 1953 because he said "For the rest of my life I'd always remember that I had seen it". Sure enough, I do.
Sometimes we'd take little "road trips". Paradise Lodge at Mount Rainier and Copalis beach at the ocean were two favorite day trip destinations. We'd take the whole family, often taking several cars – grandmothers and aunts and uncles and any of the frequent out of town family visitors too. Sometimes we'd take the boat to Victoria – that was a memorable trip… The Empress hotel, the horse drawn tour carriages and the lovely Butchart Gardens were favorites.
Tacoma was a wonderful place to grow up in those post-war years and into the 50's. It had very much a small town, almost Midwestern feel. It felt safe and comfortable and friendly and warm and it seemed, at least in South Tacoma, that everyone was related and/or knew each other. Peoples' doors were open all the time in nice weather and we were in and out of each other's houses all the time. We – all the neighborhood kids - would pack lunches and ride our bikes or roller skate all over South Tacoma. We were usually gone all day. Our mothers had no idea where we were and apparently never worried about us. We'd often play outside in the neighborhood until well after dark.
Sadly, in the spring of 1953 Walter became ill with an odd variety of symptoms that turned out to be non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He died on November 25th 1953, Thanksgiving eve, at the age of 39, just a few months after he was diagnosed. He died in the Hotel Constance in Pasadena California where he had travelled seeking a miracle treatment from John E. Gregory M.D at the Loma Linda Medical Center. He left his wife, 9 year old daughter and his son, who turned 7 three days later. His family and friends were devastated at his untimely loss. He was given a Masonic Rose Croix Funeral Ceremony and his funeral procession from the old Piper Funeral Home in South Tacoma to his grave in Mountain View Cemetery was said to have been two miles long. I suspect that this may have been a kind exaggeration, although it was an impressive event, even to a stunned 9 year old.
Our father created a wonderful life for us and when he died much of it died too for my brother and me. His loss had a lifelong impact upon many lives. His mother was moved to El Paso Texas to be with her son Aaron and his family there. We never saw her again, a regret that lingers to this day. His wife struggled for some time but remarried in 1957 and in 1958 she sold the home and store and we moved to Bellevue. After that all traces of our old life were gone and nothing was ever the same again. Neither of his children ever really fully recovered from the loss.
His was a short but very special life. I miss him still. I always will. As the last holder of these memories I'm happy to share them with you. They're very precious to me.
His daughter
Kathie Keil Crozier
June 26, 2017
