Welcome to Walter's Weigh

I have not made a completely accurate translation of my father’s handwriting, but I have tried to capture the essence of what happened, where, and when.

Administrator: William R. Lindsay, his son, born 1931.

Please click on the pages above to read the contents of the Journal Entries and to see the photos.

Who Was Walter Lindsay?

Walter Lindsay was born in 1896, completed less than the eighth grade, went to sea as a young man, began keeping a journal in 1916 while employed as a radio operator on ships that sailed from San Francisco to ports on the west coast.  In those early days of radio, voice transmissions were unknown; communication was done in carrier code, dots and dashes.  In 1918 he joined the naval reserve and was activated to Vladivostok, Russia, and continued keeping his journal until he returned home.  Before he left, however, he invested in a camera and a good pen.  The journal ends soon after his return from Vladivostok.

After returning to San Francisco,  I assume that he kept very busy, but there is little data to refer to.  Here is what I think I know:

Walter traveled a lot in the US, spent some time camping in the mountains of New Mexico, attended some classes at the University of Nevada, and worked for the US Air Mail service (There's a record of this service on the internet, but his name is incorrectly spelled).  I don't think he ever piloted a plane and probably worked on the radio system.  Years later he considered buying an airplane, but his wife talked him into getting a boat instead, the Ruth L.

In the 1920s he traveled to Chicago and happened to see radio equipment on a large building.  He presented himself to the Chicago Daily News, seeking employment in the radio business, a fast growing industry.  He was employed.  At some point he met his future wife, Ruth Augusta Davies, possibly through a connection of some kind with her brother Archie, who could have been a lodge brother of Walter.  They married on New Year's Day, 1925, and had six children--Gean, Marilyn, William, Donna, Rosemary, and Sandra.

During his employment with WMAQ, Walter had a number of responsibilities, including announcing, and rose to the level of chief engineer of the station's broadcasting location in Elmhurst, Illinois.  He was a master mason, master of his lodge, and a good bowler.  As far as I know, he never involved himself in political matters.

When WWII threatened he planted a vegetable garden and fruit to be sure his family had plenty to eat.  He retired from NBC in 1962, suffered a heart attack, and moved to Florida.  In 1963 Walter and Ruth took a cruise to Europe to visit their son William, who with his new wife Lucy were teachers with the Defense Department in Spain.  Walter and Ruth traveled to Paris, London, and Ireland, where Walter visited the town where his father was born in 1869.  Walter died in 1966.

Copies of his journals and his photo album came into my possession in the 2000s, and I began working on the preparation of this blog to preserve his record with the navy.  In the process I had communication with a Russian woman whose grandfather was in Vladivostok about the same time Walter was on Russky Island, adjacent to the city.  She was researching records of some orphans who had been brought to the island during the Russian revolution of 1918, and Walter had referred to some orphans that he had given a ride to in his truck while he was there.