Walter Elliott Gleb, Jr. was born April 7, 1924, to Walter E. and Clara A. Gleb in Tacoma, Wash. He died at his home on Nov. 9, 2007, with his family and loved ones at his side.

The family moved to St. Paul, Minn., when he was 8 years old, and they lived there until he joined the Navy when he was 17 years old. He served in the military until 1949 on the Valley Forge Aircraft Carrier.

He married Ida M. Lee on Sept. 30, 1950, and they had five children.

They lived in Mounds View, Minn., until they moved back to the Seattle area in 1978. In 1980, they moved to Vashon, where he resided until he died.

Wally went to night school to become an electrician. In Minnesota, he did industrial construction, and his work included the Prairie Island Nuclear Plant. He went back to working for the railroad and was transferred to Seattle in 1978. He retired from the railroad in 1989.

He enjoyed the water and the view and especially enjoyed taking pictures whenever he could. Family members say he always had a camera in his hand. After he retired, he enjoyed computers. He taught himself how to use them and how to fix one when it would crash. Since childhood, he built small airplanes with gas engines, and he would fly them and fix them after they crashed.

Wally was a kind and gentle man who loved his family and friends and especially his dog Cocoa, according to family members.

His parents died earlier, as did his brother Paul, granddaughter Nicole Helman, grandson Robert Wilson and great granddaughter Chloe Torrell.

Survivors include his wife Ida and children Nancy Johnson and her husband Rex, Shirley Wilson-Oslund and her husband Terry, Donna Kruessel and her husband Kevin, Walter E. Gleb, III, and his wife Sandy and Joseph E. Gleb. Additional survivors include 11 grandchildren and 23 great grandchildren.