|
 Walter 'Wally' Colburn
December 8, 1943 - May 20, 2025
My father and SPHS Class of '61 alum Wally Colburn passed away at home after a long battle with congestive heart failure. Hew was born and raised in South Pasadena and lived in SP for almost 75 years. After graduating SPHS, he was drafted into the US Army and served from 1963 - 1967. After the Army, he became a police officer for SPPD for 15 years before moving to the private sector to work on the B2 Bomber project for Northrop-Grumman for almost 20 years. He then became a sports massage therapist and had a practice in San Gabriel for 18 years before finally retiring at age 75 to move with my wife and I to Middleton, Idaho.
Chris Colburn '93
|
James Tomlin (1961)
Walter was an amazing artist. I don't think school programs do much with art and music now. In 3rd grade we were encouraged to pursue interests in painting water colors, finger painting, pencil drawing. I was equally non-talented in all, although Kent Warner and I used one anothers faces as an artistic medium. This was not well received by Miss Nash. I happened to walk past Walter's eisel on the way to throwing away my painting before anyone could see it when I looked at Walter's. He had painted two birds and they were amazing. I mean it was third grade, but they were birds, and the were almost real.