Obituary of Walter Casper Sands

Walter C. Sands (CDR US Navy, ret) passed away August 5, 2009 at the age of 92. He is survived by Florence, his wife of 66 years, daughters Norma Jean Sands and Linnea Sands, granddaughter Jessica, cousin Nancy Sweeney and her husband, Tom Sweeney and sons John and Michael, sister-in-law Virginia Sands, and niece Terrie Kahl and her husband Mike Kahl and children, Aaron and Jordan. He was pre-deceased by his younger brother Pierre N. Sands (CAPT US Navy, ret). Walter was born in Warren, Minnesota, and grew up in Montana and Fern Hill, Tacoma. He attended Fern Hill schools and graduated from Lincoln High School in 1933. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Washington (UW), Seattle, in 1937. While an undergraduate, he was for a 2-year period a member of the crew of the MS CATALYST, a UW oceanographic vessel, and after graduation served for one year as an apprentice engineer in a chemical plant in San Francisco. From 1938 to 1942 he was an oceanographer with the US Fish and Wildlife Service and conducted an oceanographic survey of the Southeast Bering Sea area, operation from the US Coast Guard Cutter REDWING. In June 1940, he was commissioned a Reserve Ensign in the US Navy, a specialist in oceanography. On 12 January 1942 he entered active duty. From 1942 to 1944, he served as Executive Officer of the YP 93 in the Aleutians, then as Officer-in-Charge of the YP 93 in the Northwest Sea Frontier, and then as Commanding Officer of the PC 485 in the Aleutians and the Hawaiian Sea Frontier. From 1944 to 1947 he was with the Bureau of Ships as Project Officer. From 1947-1950 he completed three years of graduate study in Electronics and Acoustics; one year at the University of California at Los Angeles and two years at the Navy Post Graduate School at Annapolis, obtaining a Master of Science degree. He first met Florence at the UW in 1939; she was one of the first women taking oceanography of the UW. He next met her on the ski slopes when he was skies-up and head-down the snow. She helped him get upright. In 1943 they were married at his grandparent’s home in Fern Hill. After the war he remained in the Navy working in underwater research. His last post was in London, England. He retired from the Navy in 1962 and returned to the Pacific Northwest. He worked at the University of Washington, Department of Oceanography, for 20 years, as a lecturer in underwater acoustics and as manager of the developmental labs that supported research. Walter and Florence retired to the family home in Fern Hill in 2001 after remodeling the family house that was originally built in the late 1880s. They enjoyed the green oasis of Douglas fir trees on the family plot, planted over a hundred years ago. As old trees fell, Walter replaced them with young cedar and fir. He and Florence enjoyed gardening and growing fruit trees and berries on the property. Some of the plum, cherry and apple trees were from the time of his grandfather; others were trees he planted within the last decade. In the fall the family would get together and make jams and jellies from the crop. Walter passed away from the effects of a series of strokes. The family wishes to thank the staff of St Joseph’s Hospital and the Franciscan Hospice who made his life comfortable and peaceful in his last weeks.