• Walt was born in Brooklyn's King County Hospital, where our father was a resident doctor. When the residency ended, our family moved to California.
• He entered school normally in Los Angeles, but his fall 1944 term was interrupted when we moved to Salina, Kansas, where father was a Flight Surgeon at the AAF base nearby. Walt had just completed the first half of his third grade before the move.
• Walt completed the third grade in Kansas but his education was interrupted by illness for the next term. He had both scarlet fever and rheumatic fever. He was hospitalized for several weeks on the air base. In the hospital he was in a body cast that covered his upper body and one arm. His arm was in a cast for weeks afterwards.
• In the summer of 1945, we returned to Los Angeles and Walt re-entered grammar school that fall. Because of his long absences from school, the school authorities decided to discard his Kansas schooling and had him complete the third grade again in Los Angeles. Consequently, Walt was one full year behind his original classmates. He graduated from Los Angeles High School in the Winter 1954 class.
• Walt then entered UCLA and joined the Delta Tau Delta fraternity. He dated Winifred Alker, when she was a member of the Delta Gamma sorority. He received his BS in Finance in the Spring 1958 class.
• Walt was wonderfully athletic. As a child he could do almost everything well. He loved climbing, especially buildings, such as the Wiltern Building in Los Angeles. He was a quarterback on his high school football team and played intramural two-man volleyball at UCLA.
• After UCLA, he served in the US Navy for two years, as required by his NROTC program at UCLA. He was an officer on the USS Princeton (CV-37). While Walt was in the navy, he and Winnie Alker became engaged to marry.
• After the navy in 1960, Walt enrolled in the Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. He and Winnie married in Los Angeles on August 6, 1960. She was an elementary school teacher after UCLA.
• Walt succeeded very well at Loyola. After his first year he was recruited by the USC Gould School of Law, and he transferred there for his next year. He did equally well there too.
• But in 1962 Walt was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer and was given just six months to live, with treatment. He underwent the treatment and his cancer went into remission. From then on he was healthy and athletic, up to his final illness in 1984. Back in 1962 he continued his studies. His performance slacked just a bit during his medical episode. He still graduated, I believe, in the second or third position of his class.
• His law career started slowly because, generally, law firms want to hire potential partners, and his cancer history made his future questionable. In 1968 he and various classmates formed the law firm Linder, Schurmer, Drane & Bullis.
• Walt succeeded very well there and lived happily for the rest of his life. He participated in counseling cancer patients on living with cancer. He particularly enjoyed travel and he and Winnie made several trips around the world. I believe Spain was his favorite country to visit. They also enjoyed their cabin on Flathead Lake in Montana.
• In the early summer of 1984 his remission ended. It was quickly over. He died at the UCLA Medical Center just about three months later.
—Dorsey Barnes Drane, Walt's brother, 2012
• He entered school normally in Los Angeles, but his fall 1944 term was interrupted when we moved to Salina, Kansas, where father was a Flight Surgeon at the AAF base nearby. Walt had just completed the first half of his third grade before the move.
• Walt completed the third grade in Kansas but his education was interrupted by illness for the next term. He had both scarlet fever and rheumatic fever. He was hospitalized for several weeks on the air base. In the hospital he was in a body cast that covered his upper body and one arm. His arm was in a cast for weeks afterwards.
• In the summer of 1945, we returned to Los Angeles and Walt re-entered grammar school that fall. Because of his long absences from school, the school authorities decided to discard his Kansas schooling and had him complete the third grade again in Los Angeles. Consequently, Walt was one full year behind his original classmates. He graduated from Los Angeles High School in the Winter 1954 class.
• Walt then entered UCLA and joined the Delta Tau Delta fraternity. He dated Winifred Alker, when she was a member of the Delta Gamma sorority. He received his BS in Finance in the Spring 1958 class.
• Walt was wonderfully athletic. As a child he could do almost everything well. He loved climbing, especially buildings, such as the Wiltern Building in Los Angeles. He was a quarterback on his high school football team and played intramural two-man volleyball at UCLA.
• After UCLA, he served in the US Navy for two years, as required by his NROTC program at UCLA. He was an officer on the USS Princeton (CV-37). While Walt was in the navy, he and Winnie Alker became engaged to marry.
• After the navy in 1960, Walt enrolled in the Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. He and Winnie married in Los Angeles on August 6, 1960. She was an elementary school teacher after UCLA.
• Walt succeeded very well at Loyola. After his first year he was recruited by the USC Gould School of Law, and he transferred there for his next year. He did equally well there too.
• But in 1962 Walt was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer and was given just six months to live, with treatment. He underwent the treatment and his cancer went into remission. From then on he was healthy and athletic, up to his final illness in 1984. Back in 1962 he continued his studies. His performance slacked just a bit during his medical episode. He still graduated, I believe, in the second or third position of his class.
• His law career started slowly because, generally, law firms want to hire potential partners, and his cancer history made his future questionable. In 1968 he and various classmates formed the law firm Linder, Schurmer, Drane & Bullis.
• Walt succeeded very well there and lived happily for the rest of his life. He participated in counseling cancer patients on living with cancer. He particularly enjoyed travel and he and Winnie made several trips around the world. I believe Spain was his favorite country to visit. They also enjoyed their cabin on Flathead Lake in Montana.
• In the early summer of 1984 his remission ended. It was quickly over. He died at the UCLA Medical Center just about three months later.
—Dorsey Barnes Drane, Walt's brother, 2012
• Walt was born in Brooklyn's King County Hospital, where our father was a resident doctor. When the residency ended, our family moved to California.
• He entered school normally in Los Angeles, but his fall 1944 term was interrupted when we moved to Salina, Kansas, where father was a Flight Surgeon at the AAF base nearby. Walt had just completed the first half of his third grade before the move.
• Walt completed the third grade in Kansas but his education was interrupted by illness for the next term. He had both scarlet fever and rheumatic fever. He was hospitalized for several weeks on the air base. In the hospital he was in a body cast that covered his upper body and one arm. His arm was in a cast for weeks afterwards.
• In the summer of 1945, we returned to Los Angeles and Walt re-entered grammar school that fall. Because of his long absences from school, the school authorities decided to discard his Kansas schooling and had him complete the third grade again in Los Angeles. Consequently, Walt was one full year behind his original classmates. He graduated from Los Angeles High School in the Winter 1954 class.
• Walt then entered UCLA and joined the Delta Tau Delta fraternity. He dated Winifred Alker, when she was a member of the Delta Gamma sorority. He received his BS in Finance in the Spring 1958 class.
• Walt was wonderfully athletic. As a child he could do almost everything well. He loved climbing, especially buildings, such as the Wiltern Building in Los Angeles. He was a quarterback on his high school football team and played intramural two-man volleyball at UCLA.
• After UCLA, he served in the US Navy for two years, as required by his NROTC program at UCLA. He was an officer on the USS Princeton (CV-37). While Walt was in the navy, he and Winnie Alker became engaged to marry.
• After the navy in 1960, Walt enrolled in the Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. He and Winnie married in Los Angeles on August 6, 1960. She was an elementary school teacher after UCLA.
• Walt succeeded very well at Loyola. After his first year he was recruited by the USC Gould School of Law, and he transferred there for his next year. He did equally well there too.
• But in 1962 Walt was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer and was given just six months to live, with treatment. He underwent the treatment and his cancer went into remission. From then on he was healthy and athletic, up to his final illness in 1984. Back in 1962 he continued his studies. His performance slacked just a bit during his medical episode. He still graduated, I believe, in the second or third position of his class.
• His law career started slowly because, generally, law firms want to hire potential partners, and his cancer history made his future questionable. In 1968 he and various classmates formed the law firm Linder, Schurmer, Drane & Bullis.
• Walt succeeded very well there and lived happily for the rest of his life. He participated in counseling cancer patients on living with cancer. He particularly enjoyed travel and he and Winnie made several trips around the world. I believe Spain was his favorite country to visit. They also enjoyed their cabin on Flathead Lake in Montana.
• In the early summer of 1984 his remission ended. It was quickly over. He died at the UCLA Medical Center just about three months later.
—Dorsey Barnes Drane, Walt's brother, 2012
• He entered school normally in Los Angeles, but his fall 1944 term was interrupted when we moved to Salina, Kansas, where father was a Flight Surgeon at the AAF base nearby. Walt had just completed the first half of his third grade before the move.
• Walt completed the third grade in Kansas but his education was interrupted by illness for the next term. He had both scarlet fever and rheumatic fever. He was hospitalized for several weeks on the air base. In the hospital he was in a body cast that covered his upper body and one arm. His arm was in a cast for weeks afterwards.
• In the summer of 1945, we returned to Los Angeles and Walt re-entered grammar school that fall. Because of his long absences from school, the school authorities decided to discard his Kansas schooling and had him complete the third grade again in Los Angeles. Consequently, Walt was one full year behind his original classmates. He graduated from Los Angeles High School in the Winter 1954 class.
• Walt then entered UCLA and joined the Delta Tau Delta fraternity. He dated Winifred Alker, when she was a member of the Delta Gamma sorority. He received his BS in Finance in the Spring 1958 class.
• Walt was wonderfully athletic. As a child he could do almost everything well. He loved climbing, especially buildings, such as the Wiltern Building in Los Angeles. He was a quarterback on his high school football team and played intramural two-man volleyball at UCLA.
• After UCLA, he served in the US Navy for two years, as required by his NROTC program at UCLA. He was an officer on the USS Princeton (CV-37). While Walt was in the navy, he and Winnie Alker became engaged to marry.
• After the navy in 1960, Walt enrolled in the Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. He and Winnie married in Los Angeles on August 6, 1960. She was an elementary school teacher after UCLA.
• Walt succeeded very well at Loyola. After his first year he was recruited by the USC Gould School of Law, and he transferred there for his next year. He did equally well there too.
• But in 1962 Walt was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer and was given just six months to live, with treatment. He underwent the treatment and his cancer went into remission. From then on he was healthy and athletic, up to his final illness in 1984. Back in 1962 he continued his studies. His performance slacked just a bit during his medical episode. He still graduated, I believe, in the second or third position of his class.
• His law career started slowly because, generally, law firms want to hire potential partners, and his cancer history made his future questionable. In 1968 he and various classmates formed the law firm Linder, Schurmer, Drane & Bullis.
• Walt succeeded very well there and lived happily for the rest of his life. He participated in counseling cancer patients on living with cancer. He particularly enjoyed travel and he and Winnie made several trips around the world. I believe Spain was his favorite country to visit. They also enjoyed their cabin on Flathead Lake in Montana.
• In the early summer of 1984 his remission ended. It was quickly over. He died at the UCLA Medical Center just about three months later.
—Dorsey Barnes Drane, Walt's brother, 2012
