Walter Dexter Gustafson (d. 1932 )

Walter was born on March 18, 1907, in Sycamore, Illinois.  Walter was a very competitive fellow who liked baseball.  He also had a horse, named Major, that he would ride into town.  He often would race the horse down the streets of Port Wing against another fellow.  The other fellow appraently had the faster horse, because he would beat Walter nearly every time.  Several of the town boys would gather to watch these races.  Eventually Walter left home to work in Chicago.  He studied electronics, radio, etc. He bought Ida a washing machine that agitated the clothes with a handle.  Later on Ida had an electric motor put on it.

Walter died at the age of 25 in 1932 from appendicitis in Chicago.  According to Emogene, some friends brought over some whiskey to the hospital to celebrate Walter's impending release from the hospital after his operation.  He died in the hospital right after this event.  Walter's body was brought back to Port Wing for the funeral.  His body was laid out in one of the bedrooms in the stone house.  For a long time afterward, Ida would walk across the fields with some of the other children to the cemetery and put flowers on Walter's grave.  Walter carried a life insurance policy that paid Ida $500 on his death.  With that money, Ida built the small house in Port Wing that she moved to after the farm was lost.
Return to Ernst Gustafson
Hosted by www.Geocities.ws

1