Walter Sedoff

ALBERTON - Walter Sedoff, was born June 24, 1920, in Detroit, to Russian Immigrants Wasily and Marina Sedoff.





Growing up in the Depression years, he later attended the University of Michigan.





With the onset of World War II, he enlisted and was stationed in Wisconsin, where, on a fortuitous blind date, he met his most beloved wife of 63 years, Kathleen Knowlton, of Wauwatosa, Wis.





After the war, he returned with Kathleen to the University of Michigan for further studies. With the beginning of the Cold War years, he went to work for the Central Intelligence Agency, a career spanning 30 years. He traveled throughout the world and also lived with his family in Frankfurt, Germany (1950-54), Bangkok, Thailand (1957-59) and Rio de Janiero, Brazil (1964-66). His career involved many high profile challenges with the Soviet Union and ended with his teaching CIA personnel at a facility in southern Virginia.





Walter then serendipitously retired to outside Missoula. These wonderful years he spent with Kathleen and dear friends in various activities, both outdoors and civic. His appreciation for literature and classical music were lifelong, from listening to opera as a teenager, to picking up his first copy of Turgenev. He read to the blind for the Montana Reading Service for 27 years. His contemplative nature was delighted in the variegated sunshine on the mountain tops. He was a most kind and loving man. His sense of humor reflected his general love of others and his kindness towards strangers was uninhibited.





He was preceded in death by his parents; two brothers, Alex of Laguna Beach, Calif. and George of Detroit; and his adoring granddaughter, Amy Ewing of Palo Alto, Calif.





He leaves behind his wife of 63 years; three children, Maria Parks of Mijas Costa, Spain, James Walter of West Palm Beach, Fla. and Kathy Ewing of Muscat, Oman; a devoted brother-in-law, Michael of Mijas Costa, Spain; six grandchildren; and ten great-grandchildren.





A celebration of his life will be held in the spring. In remembrance, Walter kindly wished those interested to make a donation to an organization of their choice, or better yet, give some of their time.





Sunset Memorial Funeral Home assisted the family with arrangements.
Read Walter Sedoff's Obituary and Guestbook.