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Walter Swanson, 88, died on Sunday October 18, 2020 at Westfield Rehabilitation and Health Center, Sanford, North Carolina.
Walter was born in Brooklyn, New York on May 26, 1932 to Olga and Eugene Swanson, both born in Norway. With his older brother Gene, he grew up in the Bay Ridge area of the borough, known as the fourth largest Norwegian “city” in the world, in a community steeped in Norsk culture including the annual “Syttende Mai” 17th of May parade.
To escape the heat of the city, the family had a summer cabin in Lake Telemark, New Jersey. Originally fairly rustic, with an indoor hand pump for water and a separate outhouse, it served as a base for a very active young Walter to indulge in many sporting interests, including swimming in the lake and baseball in the summer, and skiing and ice hockey in the winter. He had a special proficiency in ski jumping, telling of the “repurposing” of smudge pot oil burning road hazard lamps so they could jump at night.
Lake Telemark had a very social community, centred around the Clubhouse on the lake. Walter also spent many hours at Green Pond Golf Course; playing its nine holes with very few clubs and found balls inspired his life-long love of the game and his considerable skill.
Across the street from the Swanson cabin in Lake Telemark lived Marie and Pat Anderson, with their children Marie and Nestor, known as Gus. During the Korean War, Walter served in the US Navy on an aircraft carrier, and he remained very proud of his veteran status. He also leveraged the card game skills he acquired on board for the rest of his life.
Back from the war, in 1956 he married Marie, who by then was a Registered Nurse. Walter studied at Upsala College in East Orange, NJ, graduating with a BSc in Business, and completing the degree in record time whilst holding down a full-time job and starting his family; in his graduation photograph he is holding his infant son Peter. Their daughter Ingrid arrived two years later. The young family moved to their first house in Lake Hiawatha, New Jersey.
After a short stint selling sports cars, Walter joined Alpha Metals in Jersey City, New Jersey. Alpha was a small, family owned solder business, but a company with enough opportunity and aspiration to engage him for the rest of his working career. For many years, he listed “Sales” as his occupation in his passport, a document which was to swell with the immigration stamps from numerous travels to many countries around the world.
That travel started in the early 60’s, as Alpha Metals initiated their export business by targeting the fairly nascent electronics manufacturing businesses in the UK, which included US companies like IBM. Initially, Walter made a three month trip to England without his family, but then he and Marie with their children moved across the Atlantic between London and New Jersey seven times in the 1960’s. On the first stay in England they lived in Barnes in south west London, living in a flat opposite Barnes Pond. On their return to the USA, they moved into a new house on Woodfield Drive in Whippany, New Jersey. There was another sojourn in Barnes, then back to Whippany. On their third trip to England, the family spent 15 months living in Wimbledon in south west London, before again returning to Whippany.
In 1970, Walter was asked to return to Europe once more, and with children approaching their teenage years, he requested a longer stay – this time, his contract was for five years, they stayed sixteen. They purchased a townhouse in Welford Place, Wimbledon - within a few minutes’ walk of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, home of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, and Wimbledon Village, a genteel oasis in south west London.
These were the peak years of Walter’s time in England. He was in charge of Alpha’s European business, building subsidiaries in Italy, France and Ireland and sales throughout the region. He was able to travel extensively on business. The children were in excellent private schools. He was a member of Royal Wimbledon Golf Club, the third oldest golf Club in England, dating back to 1865. The family skied in Madesimo in Italy, north of Lake Como and few minutes from the Swiss border. The restaurants and shops of London’s West End were twenty minutes’ drive away. It is fair to say that Walter and Marie, from rather humble and parochial beginnings, were able to make the very best of these opportunities through their drive, ambition and personalities, and they forged many strong and long-term friendships in the Wimbledon years.
Whilst living in London, they were introduced to Carolina Trace by Marty and Dottie Boyle; Marty was Walter’s business mentor at Alpha Metals, and they had become very dear family friends. Falling in love with the bucolic atmosphere and balanced weather of that part of North Carolina (not forgetting the two championship golf courses of Carolina Trace Country Club), in 1982 Walter and Marie purchased a vacation home in the Mallard Cove section of the gated community around Lake Trace, near Sanford. They now had a retirement plan.
In 1986, Walter and Marie moved to Hong Kong for three years, where he managed Alpha Metals’ burgeoning business in Asia. They left Peter and Ingrid behind in England; Walter’s children now had English partners and were working on careers. The kids were also working on families of their own. Peter & Jilly produced Clemmie, with Marie seeing her for the first time at the hospital on the way to the airport to fly to Asia. Tom, Ben and Tilly followed, interleaved with Ingrid & Trevor’s children, Natalie, Nick and Ollie. In Hong Kong, Walter and Marie lived in a fine apartment on Hong Kong Island near The Peak, and were able to enjoy the wealth of cuisine choices and cultural differences of the area. Nevertheless, the life of the expat was not really their thing.
They returned to the USA in 1990, buying a house in Lebanon, New Jersey. Walter worked in a senior VP role at Alpha Metals, back in Jersey City, managing subsidiary companies and looking at M&A opportunities. They were able to move to Carolina Trace on a permanent basis before Walter retired in 1997. By this time, Alpha Metals was a very large multi-national corporation. His contribution to the growth success of that company cannot be underestimated. Former employees and colleagues will still testify to his powerful innate selling skills, his drive and energy, and his leadership and mentoring ability.
They purchased Captains Point in Carolina Trace, a beautiful home on Lake Trace, in which to settle into retirement. Walter served on the Board of the Country Club, and worked on various charitable pursuits like Meals on Wheels. He took every advantage of the magnificent golf courses on his doorstep. He established a basement shop for wood working, and built a fish pond. He bought a pontoon boat with an electric engine to cruise Lake Trace at cocktail hour, and they socialised at the Country Club. They established many profound friendships with other couples in the Carolina Trace community, mostly retirees with similar active interests and a love of life.
Carolina Trace became the hub for Walter’s family, by now challenged by being geographically scattered. They were able to overcome this in many ways, but two things are worth highlighting. Each of Walter’s grandchildren, all of whom were living in England, underwent a “rite of passage” when they became ten years old; they flew to the USA by themselves to spend two weeks with Walter and Marie, to be indulged and loved and drawn close, overcoming the everyday physical distance. Each of Walter’s England-based grandchildren think of Carolina Trace as their American home.
Marie’s brother Gus was Walter’s best friend and a kindred spirit. Gus, his wife Patience, and their daughters Kirsten and Meghan joined with Walter, Marie, Peter and Ingrid to form a close family unit – later encompassing the children’s spouses, and then their children, and ultimately their grandchildren. This group were drawn together by the ASFI, the Annual Summer Fun Invitational. This is a two-day family golf tournament with an extremely arcane rule set, designed, it is thought, to minimise the chances of the best golfer winning. Walter was the best golfer even when well into his seventies, and he managed to confound the organisers by often winning anyway.
Marie contracted amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and that meant selling Captains Point and moving to the more practical but still lovely house on Cashmere Court in the Trace – overlooking the par 3 7th hole. Marie died at home of ALS in November 2005. Walter, not previously known for his bedside manner, nursed her with absolute diligence and loving care throughout her illness.
Walter married Eleanor Piepho in 2007. Ellie is originally from Minnesota, and is another proud Norsk. In her, Walter found a soulmate for his latter years. They liked doing the crossword together, playing bridge and eating out. Not only did Ellie become a Swanson, but she brought her son Craig and his family into the Swanson clan.
Walter was known as Walt to his friends. After experiencing almost every cuisine the world had to offer, his very favourite remained simple Italian, and he liked nothing better than cooking up some pasta for friends and family. The prodigious Scotch drinker gave way to a connoisseur of Italian red wine, with a fine appreciation of Barolo and Amarone, Barbera and Chianti. His homes were adorned with an eclectic range of artwork, collected on his many travels. He played golf with a nonchalance that belied its precision and killer instinct. He was an inveterate winner – in golf, in cards, and in most other things - not because he was lucky, but because he made his own luck.
Walter is survived by his wife Ellie Swanson, his two children, Peter and Ingrid, seven grandchildren and seven great grandchildren – Charlie, Mollie, Marley, Lottie, Patrick, Amzie and Eleanor.
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