Walter Neth

WALTER NETH August 16, 1921 ~ February 16, 2013 Walter Neth was born August 16, 1921 in Oregon City, OR. He was the first sibling of his family to be born in the U.S.A. His family migrated to the Northwest from Medicine Hat, Canada, where his father had immigrated to and planted a vineyard after leaving their farm in what is currently the Ukraine. He grew up across the street from the railroad yards in downtown Vancouver during the depression with four brothers, one sister, father and step-mother. His father worked repairing boilers on trains and step-mother operated a small lunch counter restaurant for railroad workers. All of his siblings worked hard and creatively for their family to have spending money during the depression. Through school he worked for a fruit packing plant, raised chickens in the backyard for the Vancouver Egg Co-op and delivered the Columbian. From kindergarten to graduating High School, he only missed a half day of school. The day after he graduated from High School he began working for a furnace installer. He met the love of his life, Lydia Saidri Neth (Fletcher), at 16. She worked at a fruit packing plant across the street from where he did and they would share lunch together. They ended up sharing 72 years of their lives together, raising one son, Walter Warren Neth Sr. He was a large part of his grandsons life, Walter Warren Neth Jr. and was able to hold his two-week old Great-granddaughter, Saidri Faye Neth before he passed away. Walter Neth served on the USS Wadsworth destroyer ship in the U.S. Navy during WWII. Life on the ship was Spartan. Potato soup was a staple for months on end. Their ship saw heavy combat, during one close call battle he remembered tasting gasoline in a wave that had come over their bow cushioning the blow of a Kamikaze. Although he did his service dutifully, he hated war, saw it as a waste of life and destroyed peoples hard work. He was a peaceful man. Walter Neth was a machinist. He was a tinkerer. He liked to make things work better. He was also an industrialist and led the sales department for Columbia Machine, which employees 500 people around the world. He was the fifth employee of Columbia Machine, when it was a small machine shop which was owned by his eldest brother, Fred Neth Sr. The shop grew as it began to get contracts from the Kaiser Shipyard and eventually developed a machine that made concrete blocks in a fast and organized way. The company realized the potential of the machine and Walter was tapped to lead the efforts to expand into national and eventually global markets. The expansion was helped by building a quarter scale model machine that fit in the back of a truck. He traveled around the country, arriving at a town, picking up a phone book and made cold calls to block manufacturers. That road trip was the beginning of Columbia's national and eventual global leadership in the concrete block industry. He enjoyed spending time with his family, read the funny papers every morning and believed a belly laugh a day was good for your health. He was an Elk for 70 years and regularly attended their socials with his friend since childhood, Harold Belinsky (Blinky). He wasn't afraid to provide a contentious opinion, was a highly loyal man and was always there to lend a hand to his family, friends and neighbors. He will be missed by many. He is survived by his son Walter Warren Neth Sr.; daughter-in-law, Linda Neth; grandson Walter Warren Neth Jr.; granddaughter-in-law Amanda Bohannon; great-granddaughter Saidri and many nieces, nephews and cousins. Services will be held Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013, 10:00 a.m. at Evergreen Memorial Gardens, 1101 NE 112th Ave.

Walter Neth

August 16, 1921 - February 16, 2013