Erinnerungen - Memories

Papa's sudden death and the impending pandemic prevented me from attending his funeral in person. So I created a little video with my memories and my dear siblings played it at the ceremony. I still have to create English subtitles, but when that's done, I'll upload the new video.

Papa's plötzlicher Tod und der Anfang der Pandemie machten es mir unmöglich, an der Beerdigung in Person teilzunehmen. Daher hatte ich kleines Video mit meinen Erinnerungen zusammengestellt und meine lieben Geschwister haben es dann am Ende der Zeremonie abgespielt.

IN MEMORIAM OF WALTER GUNTER WILLI ALSBACH

We had been dating since our meeting at Rosa and Roland Liu’s beautiful home in Rockville MD in 1982. At that time, I lived at my small (starter) home in Falls Church and Walter at a rental home in McLean, both located in Virginia. Coincidentally but most conveniently our offices were located across from one another at L’Enfant Plaza West SW in Washington DC so that we occasionally had lunch together.

It was winter 1982 and we got a lot of snow in Virginia. One fateful morning, I had inadvertently locked myself out of my house when I wanted to clean the snow off my car. My neighbors were still asleep and I had to wait until one of them was awake before I could ask if I could use his home phone to call Walter. Being always very helpful, Walter brought some tools with him to unlock my front door. The snow made it impossible, however, for him or myself to get to our offices in DC that day, and so he made himself useful by shoveling my driveway. “Leodyne, why don’t we get married, so that I won’t have to shovel two driveways in winter?” was his unexpected question. I loved his sense of humor and because he meant it, I said yes.

It is said that marriage is often better the second time around…..but is it really?

Like Walter, I had also been married before, though very briefly from 1969 to 1971, to a Rhode Islander who was in the Foreign Service of the U.S. Department of State and whom I had met in Jakarta in 1963 at the beginning of his first post. When he was transferred three years later to Saigon, I emigrated to the Netherlands on the day right after my graduation from Law School in 1967.

Since we were both born under the same Zodiac sign (Pisces) and in the same year, we were very compatible, although Walter was an extrovert and I more of an introvert. During the first five years of our marriage, Walter and I indeed had an awesome life together and were very, very happy! Every two years until his lay-off from INTELSAT in 1987, we saved up, synchronized and spent our annual leave visiting my parents in the Netherlands and his widowed mother in Germany, and explored other European countries by car. In South East Asia we visited Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong; my postal counterparts in Japan and Taiwan and my numerous relatives in Indonesia. We spent a few weeks with some Foreign Service friends of mine who were stationed in Sydney, where we had lunch onboard of the only mail delivery boat. Additionally, Walter followed me on one of my work trips to the U.S. Virgin Islands and participated in a week’s vacation on St. Martin, organized by my U.S. Postal Service Recreation Association in 1994. Last but not least, every other weekend I drove to Highpoint NJ (GE) and flew twice to Scottsdale AZ (Motorola) when he managed to get assigned there to specific projects.

Walter was very supportive of my work at U. S. Postal Service Headquarters and frequently helped me with his objective and constructive comments on the speeches and presentations I had to make at out-of-state postal work conventions. Since he also had to travel for work, he never complained when he would see me only in the weekends at home to get my laundry done and to fly out again to my next destination.

The year after his separation from INTELSAT, however, he had a near aneurysm due to his hypertension. His mother, a double amputee in her early 80’s, had finally decided to visit with us and was accompanied by my parents from Amsterdam who had met her in Frankfurt. On the day of their arrival, I had to give them the bad news of Walter’s emergency hospitalization which was a terrible shock, in particular for my mother-in-law. After Walter’s recovery, our parents spent approximately two months with us before returning to Europe.

Like several of his German colleagues he lost his G-4 visa after his lay-off by INTELSAT and I hurried to sponsor him within a month for an Alien Registration/”Green” card to prevent his mandatory return to Germany. All these physical, emotional and financial changes in his life took their toll and made him lose his interest in me and drastically impacted our marriage. In spite of the many counseling sessions with the pastor of the Lutheran Church where we had been married, followed by a few visits from Walter to a psychiatrist that he had been referred to, our marriage went irrevocably downhill.

He loved his work in space business but lost his feeling of security when he could only apply for projects and not for permanent jobs with the many U. S. space agencies like GE in Highpoint NJ and Motorola in Scottsdale AZ that he consecutively worked with, due to his foreign citizenship.

I should mention here that Walter had a great imagination and talent for inventions. At least one invention based on solar physics was patented in three European countries, including Germany, and received international recognition. Perhaps his long-time personal friend and colleague Hans-Dieter Zago in Koenigswinter can remember what that invention was about because I lost my copy of Walter’s curriculum vitae.

He also had a great love for cats and dogs. In 1985, we adopted a mixed breed puppy (German shepherd/husky) that I called a shepsky, and a black-and-white shorthaired kitten, both only eight weeks old, born on a German farm in Pennsylvania. Caesar and Cleo loved each other, were a lot of fun and brought us a great deal of joy but the hierarchy at home was: Walter the top dog, Caesar the dog and Leodyne the underdog. Our sweet Cleo was not interested in domestic politics!

At the spontaneous and generous invitation of the three married daughters of his father’s brother who had emigrated as a bachelor to South Africa in the early 30’s, Walter spent 3 - 4 months in South Africa and visited Siemens and Ericson but did not see a future with either of these German companies. All he wanted was to return to space business! This finally happened in early 1998 when a former INTELSAT department head, who had started a private “headhunter” agency in Maryland, offered him a job as a contractor to space agencies. For me, at last the right time had come to ask him for a divorce, to which he consented without hesitation.

We had a congenial and uncontested divorce in December 1998: We sat down in each room of our McLean house and divided up the furniture and interior decorations without any arguments. We had always been great friends and remained so. Subsequently, he bought me out of my share of the house and I moved into a house of my own in Falls Church, where I lived until I retired and moved to Raleigh NC in October 2002.

On October 1, 2009, he had to have major and two-fold surgery for repair of his aorta in chest and abdomen due to an aneurysm. I understood that his Russian wife in Alfeld was not allowed to return to the States because she had omitted to apply for a re-entry permit, her green card was therefore revoked and she had also allowed her passport to expire! I consequently volunteered to take care of him for one month, provided she would agree to that, I could bring my beloved tomcat with me and he would reimburse me for any expenses I would have to make on his behalf.

I remember one funny incident. Like I wrote before, Walter loved cats and I had a beautiful Siamese tomcat that I had rescued from a drowning death in a creek in Concord NC in 2003 when he was five weeks old. My cat slept with me in the guest room but after a week or so Walter called him into his bedroom and from then on the little traitor wanted to sleep only with him! Sadly, my little companion of 16 years got very sick on December 13, 2019, and died a week after I had lost my best friend. It was such a dark, dark time……

The last time I visited Walter was in 2010 when he was ready to retire from his contractor’s job and return to his wife in Germany. He asked me to help him vacate his house that had been bought by a foreign couple for the lot only; the house would be torn down.

With three of my closest friends in Virginia, who all knew and liked Walter, I worked under his supervision on sorting out which of his personal assets had to be shipped to Germany, which would be donated and which had to be trashed. He had absolutely no time for a moving sale that we gladly would have organized for him. He brought only his clothes and several boxes filled with paperwork and photographic materials along when he moved to and lived in a boarding house until the day of his return to Germany. I still have a Frigidaire fridge and a 21-inch Vizio TV here in Raleigh that I had bought from him.

When he was back in Germany, we occasionally exchanged an email or a phone call but when my email messages suddenly were no longer reciprocated, he told me in our last telephone conversation several years ago that his computer had broken down and his wife preferring to keep hers in working condition: Walter had a proclivity to build computers from scratch and hack operating systems, which didn't always end well.

To Walter - Requiescat in Pace!

Fond memories of Walter Alsbach.

We first met while I was working at COMSAT Labs and Walter had just joined Intelsat and was touring the Labs with his boss, circa mid-70s. I joined Intelsat not long thereafter and had more opportunities to run into him. He is always jolly and approaches any conversation with great enthusiasm. His joie de vivre was catching.

My husband and I were one the earliest people who got to know him socially when he first arrived in the United States. He came to the U.S. with his oldest daughter Petra. I remember his first year in his home in McLean, when he threw a birthday party for Petra’s 16^th birthday. He worked hard to make the party special for her – I remember the birthday cake and lots of food – always lots of food at Walter’s parties. Many of the original office colleagues were there with their families and we really had warm camaraderie during the simpler days of Intelsat.

Walter and Petra were here when The Age of Aquarius song by the 5^th Dimensions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILSr9BbhoJQ was popular. We took them to see the musical Hair where the song came from. The play reflected the hippie counterculture and the sexual revolution of the 1960’s and must have left an impression in Walter’s mind of what life was like in America. Walter developed a fondness for the psychedelic style ties very popular in the 60’s. His favorite shirt was orange colored – we can always see him coming from a distance.

We inadvertently introduced Walter to his future wife Leodyne at our house. My husband discovered Walter’s handyman skills and invited him to our home to help install track lights in our basement. Walter believes that a physicist should be able to do anything. He was a very good mechanic and he proved it by installing a meter in his car to monitor gas consumption 20 years before manufacturers installed them in cars. I had invited Leodyne (a dear family friend) over for dinner. She was bringing a young lady to introduce to my single brother. We were all to have dinner together in the evening. As it turned out, the introduction between my brother and the young lady did not work out while sparks flew between Walter and Leodyne. They had so much to talk about and with great animation- if any of you know them, you can visualize this. We bid them good night around midnight; when we peeked out of our bedroom window around 2:00 am, they were still in deep conversation in front of our house.

Fast forward a few years. Walter and Leodyne got married. A wonderful wedding at the local church in McLean and a reception in their back yard. The weather cooperated. It was a beautiful gathering of dear friends as we toasted the beaming bride and groom. We were truly happy for them and it reminded me of the saying “love is better the second time around.” This was the time when Roland and I got to know the Alsbachs more closely. Leodyne is a very considerate wife and Walter loves a good party. We remember the New Year’s Eve parties they would throw – Walter had renovated their kitchen so he could cook better. Those were the good times and the fun times and how we would like to remember Walter – ever the generous and gracious host. When it was time to go home – towards the early morning, we would be sent off with a bowl of green pea soup. A German tradition he said, but probably more to make sure we are sober.

If I recall correctly, the marriage lasted 14 years. They had an amicable divorce and still keep in touch till the end. Leodyne moved to North Carolina and Walter kept to himself. We would occasionally have him over to the house particularly for the German Intelsat alumni gathering – Walter, Wilfried Bornemann and Wofgang Wagner when we try to solve the problems of the world at the Kitchen Cabinet. One day Walter showed up with a picture of a Russian woman he had met on the internet, her name is Natalia. He was radiant and in love again. We all wish him well at his new found love in the autumn of his life. After this, we heard even less from Walter as he was busy at work (by now he is working as a contractor at Goddard Space Flight Center) or on travel to Russia.

Leodyne, his ex-wife kept us updated of his whereabouts. We later heard he has retired and moved back to Germany to live his retirement years there with Natalia. We have not heard from nor seen Walter in the past 20 plus years. We reminisce of the good times we had together and wish him well wherever path life takes him.

"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away." - Henry David Thoreau.

The above quote is how I will always remember Walter - marching to the beat of his own drummer. Yes, Walter takes the Robert Kennedy attitude: others ask why but I ask “why not” and pursues his dreams. We shall always remember him as a very good and sincere friend.

Rest in Peace dear friend.

Rosa & Roland Liu, 11 July 2020

My memory of Walter Alsbach

I am Kunihiko Niwa, an INTELSAT assignee from Japan. I worked at INTELSAT L’Enfant Plaza office in Washington, D.C. from 1979 until 1981.

During that period, I lived in McLean, VA. (If I remember correctly, Walter took Petra to our house (only briefly, though), so she probably met my family). Walter was also living nearby, so we started carpooling. It took 30-40 minutes to drive to/from office. On our way, we chatted a lot. He was a genuinely nice and friendly person, and he told me many things that I did not know. Therefore, I always enjoyed talking with him.

My relationship with him as a carpool friend lasted for about a year, but after I left INTELSAT to return back to Japan in 1981, I lost contact with him, although Rosa and Roland Liu occasionally brought his news to me.

I am deeply sorry to hear about his death. I recall good old days when we were carpool friends. May his soul rest in peace.

Kunihiko Niwa

Erinnerungen an Walter

Wir haben Walter zum ersten Mal Anfang 1982 in Washington getroffen. Walter hatte bereits einige Jahre bei Intelsat gearbeitet, ich war gerade in die Firma eingetreten. Wir waren also Kollegen und beide Mitarbeiter in Forschung und Entwicklung. Walter war der Experte für Energietechnologien und hat die Entwicklung von Batterien und Solar-Array-Panels für die Raumfahrt vorangetrieben, während ich mich auf die Satellitenantennen konzentrierte. Wir waren beide Deutsche und das war so ziemlich alles, was wir gemeinsam hatten. Walter war Physiker und genau diese Art von großartigem Wissenschaftler, den wir alle aus Filmen kennen, genial und wunderbar. Und sein Büro hätte sehr gut als Filmkulisse genutzt werden können. Als ich zum ersten Mal in sein Büro kam, dachte ich, es wäre die Bibliothek. Der Raum war mit Büchern, Berichten und Dokumenten sowie auch mit übrig gebliebener Hardware aus seinen Entwicklungsaktivitäten überfüllt, und in der Mitte saß Walter und trank eine Tasse Kaffee. Was für ein gemütlicher Ort, einfach fantastisch! Er war ein ebenso lebhafter wie anspruchsvoller Mensch, der es absolut liebte, hitzig zu diskutieren und sich auch mit Details zu befassen. Als jemand, der nicht wirklich auf seinem Spezialgebiet tätig war, habe ich es immer genossen, seine Gespräche mit anderen Experten mitzuhören. Es hat Spaß gemacht und ich habe viel über Satellitentechnik gelernt. Walter war vor allem auch eine sehr nette Person und mit fast allen Kollegen befreundet. Ich denke, wir haben ihn alle für seine eigene besondere Weise bewundert und geliebt.

Wir wurden sehr gute Freunde und haben gemeinsam großartige Momente mit anderen Freunden und Kollegen aus der ganzen Welt erlebt. Zu dieser Zeit war Intelsat nicht nur der weltweit führende Betreiber von Kommunikationssatelliten, der mit großem Aufwand Spitzentechnologie mitentwickelte, um den ständig wachsenden Kapazitäts-Anforderungen für weltweite Telefon- und Fernsehübertragungen gerecht zu werden, Intelsat war als internationales Unternehmen mit internationalem Personal auch ein wahrer Schmelztiegel von Talenten aus vielen Ländern – für Satellitenentwickler war Washington, DC der Ort, an dem man in den achtziger Jahren zu sein hatte! Wir haben alle unsere Arbeit geliebt und auch die vielen Partys mit Freunden und Kollegen genossen. Es war immer interessant, wenn Walter dabei war und sich die Gäste um ihn herum versammelten und lebhaft diskutierten. Walters eigene Partys waren legendär und gehörten damals zu den Höhepunkten unseres Lebens. Man wusste nie im Voraus, was passieren würde und was Walter sich hatte einfallen lassen. Man konnte kommen, wann man wollte, es war nie zu früh oder zu spät, und man konnte sich auch nach Belieben kleiden. Walter mochte es recht bunt und hatte eine Vorliebe für orangefarbene Hemden und sehr eigenwillige Krawatten. Niemand hätte mit seinen Outfits konkurrieren können, und er hat uns auch nie gesagt, wo man das hätte kaufen können. Es war eine wundervolle Zeit und ich bin sicher, dass sie sogar den Hippies gefallen hätte.

Es änderte sich auch nicht allzu viel nachdem Walter und Leodyne geheiratet hatten. Zuerst kaufte Walter ein neues Haus und Hans Zago und ich halfen beim Umzug. Wie schon erwartet, gab es kaum Vorbereitungen, aber wir haben es trotzdem geschafft, den gesamten Haushalt an einem einzigen Tag umzuziehen. Als nächstes beschloss Walter, seine Hochzeitsfeier in seinem eigenen neuen Garten zu veranstalten; das war ein wunderbarer Ort, aber voller Bäume und war mehr Wald als Rasen. Einige Tage vor der Party fällte Walter so viele Bäume wie nötig. Es war eine wundervolle Hochzeit und eine fantastische Party, niemand kümmerte sich um ein paar herumliegende Bäume.

Es war eine tolle Zeit unseres Lebens und wir haben es genossen, Walter und Leodyne als enge Freunde zu haben. Die guten Tage gingen Mitte der achtziger Jahre abrupt zu Ende. Richard Colino war Intelsat CEO von 1983 bis 1986. Colino wurde 1987 zu 6 Jahren Gefängnis verurteilt wegen Betrugs im Zusammenhang mit Bau- und Finanzierungsaufträgen für den damals neuen Hauptsitz von Intelsat. Colino deckte seine kriminellen Handlungen unter anderem ab, indem er wichtige Mitarbeiter auf allen Ebenen und in allen Abteilungen durch junge und unerfahrene Redenschreiber und Geschäftsentwickler ersetzte. Jeden Monat wurden mehrere Personen entlassen; völlig unerwartet traf es eines Tages Walter. Und niemand konnte etwas dagegen tun, nicht einmal die deutschen Aktionäre von Intelsat. Wir fünf Deutsche, die damals für die Organisation arbeiteten, waren absolut entsetzt. Walter hatte in gewisser Weise Glück im Unglück, weil er Inhaber einer Green Card war und sich für eine Stelle in den USA bewerben konnte. Der Rest von uns arbeitete auf der Grundlage eines A4-Visums und im Falle einer Kündigung hätten wir die USA innerhalb von vier Wochen verlassen müssen, und das mit Kindern in der Schule und einem eigenen Haus. Für uns alle war es das Ende eines Paradieses. Walter fand schnell einen neuen Job im Goddard Space Center der NASA in der Region Washington. Das war eine gewisse Erleichterung, aber der Schaden war angerichtet. Am Ende war das Drama von Walters ungerechtfertigter Entlassung Teil unserer Entscheidung, nach Deutschland zurückzukehren.

Wir werden die wunderbaren Erinnerungen an Walter bewahren und ihn niemals vergessen. Er war ein guter Freund und eine besondere Person für uns.

Ruhe in Frieden

Sigrid und Wilfried Bornemann

In Remembrance of Walter

We met Walter the first time in early 1982 in Washington. Walter had been working at Intelsat already for a few years, I had just joined the company. So we were colleagues and both Member of Technical Staff in Research & Development. Walter was the expert on power technologies and pushed the development of batteries and solar cell array panels while I focused on satellite antenna technology. We were both Germans and that was pretty much all what we had in common. Walter was a physicist and exactly that sort of terrific scientist we all know from the movies, ingenious and wonderful. And his office could very well have been used as a film set. When I first walked into his place I thought it was the library. The room was overcrowded with books, reports and documents and leftover hardware from development activities and in the middle of this there was Walter having a cup of coffee. What a cozy place, just fantastic! He was an equally vivid and sophisticated person who absolutely loved to discuss matters heatedly and to dig into details. As somebody not really involved in his field I always enjoyed listening to his conversations with other experts. It was fun and I learned a lot about spacecraft technology. Most importantly Walter was a very nice person and on friendly terms with basically everyone. I guess we all loved him in his own special way.

We became very good friends and shared great moments with other friends and colleagues from around the world. At that time Intelsat was not only the leading telecommunications satellite operator and developing cutting edge technology to meet ever growing satellite traffic capacity demands, Intelsat as an international company with international staff was a true melting pot of talents from many nations – for satellite engineering Washington, DC was the place to be in the eighties! We all enjoyed what we were doing and also had a good time with friends and colleagues on many parties. It was always interesting to have Walter around and the crowd gathered around him in lively discussions. Walter’s own parties certainly were the highlights of private entertainment in those days and you never knew ahead what was going to happen. You never came too early or too late and you could show up dressed as you liked. Walter liked it colorful with a preference for orange shirts and sort of matching ties. You could never compete with his outfits and he never told us where you could buy that stuff. It was a wonderful time and I am sure even the Hippies would have liked it. Things did not change that much when Walter and Leodyne got married. First Walter bought a new house and Hans Zago and I were involved in moving houses. As expected there was little preparation but we still managed the transfer of the full household in a single day. Next Walter decided to have his wedding party in his own new garden which was a marvelous place but full of trees and more looking like a wood. A few days before the party Walter cut down as many trees as needed. It was a wonderful wedding and a fantastic party, nobody cared about a few trees lying around.

Clearly it was the time of our life and we enjoyed having Walter and Leodyne as close friends. The good days came to an abrupt end in the mid-eighties. Richard Colino was the CEO between 1983 and 1986. In 1987 Colino pleaded guilty of fraud in relation to construction and financing contracts for Intelsat’s then new headquarters and was sent to jail. Colino covered his criminal doings, among other unlawful activities, by replacing key staff at all levels and across all divisions with young and unexperienced speechwriters and business developers. Every month several persons were made redundant; completely unexpectedly one day it hit Walter. And nobody was able to do something about it, not even the German shareholders of the company. The five Germans working for the organization were absolutely horrified. Walter was in a way lucky because he was holder of a Green Card and able to apply for a job within the US. The rest of us were working on the basis of A4 visa and we would have to leave the US within four weeks, with kids at school and a house to sell. For all of us paradise came to an end. Walter quickly found a new job at NASA Goddard Space Center in the Washington area. There was some relief but the damage was done. In the end the drama of Walter’s unfair dismissal was part of our decision to return to Germany.

We will keep the wonderful memories of Walter and we will never forget him. He was a good friend and a special person for us.

Rest in peace

Sigrid and Wilfried Bornemann

Fond memories of Walter

I got to know Walter in 1983 when I joined INTELSAT in Washington DC. We both worked in the R&D department and I had already heard about him from my friend Wilfrid who had told me that there is a genius working on satellite power systems.

My first impression of Walter was a happy-go-lucky fellow who was interested in almost everything and wore big and colorful ties. He was a most likeable person who was ready to help wherever he could and almost always had a smile on his face. While most colleagues in the R&D department were specialized engineers, Walter was a true scientist. But this did not prevent him from tinkering with his new office PC until it was the fastest in the department.

He had a good sense of humor and was a well-liked guest on many parties. Once he asked me whether we could join him for a Potomac riverboat evening cruise with the Dutch community on the occasion of “Queens’s day” (Beatrix was the queen of the Netherlands and Leodyne had many Dutch friends). We had a good time on the boat and we were probably the only ones not speaking Dutch at the time.

One day Walter invited us and several other friends to a party at his house to try out his home-made beer. He had bought an English brewing kit (like the oil-prospectors used in dry countries) and his cellar had been converted into a micro-brewery. He explained enthusiastically how he had assembled tanks, pumps, pipes and strainers to get the brewery working. The beer was – well - English, but we had lots of fun.

I remember numerous discussions with Walter covering a wide range of subjects – from philosophy to cars and from music to wind-energy. In 1988 we moved back to Europe to settle in the Netherlands – it was nice to meet Leodyne’s sister there.

On a visit to Washington DC, several years later, we met Walter at John Stevenson’s place where a number of ex-INTELSAT colleagues came together. It was immediately the old familiarity we felt.

In 2014 Walter and his new wife, Natalia, came to visit us in Leiden, the Netherlands. In spite of various personal and health problems, he was smiling and funny. After this encounter we exchanged a few e-mails and Christmas cards and we eventually lost track.

Shortly before Christmas 2019 we got the sad news from Leodyne that Walter had passed away and shortly thereafter the INTELSAT Retirees & Alumni Association issued a “Sad News” e-mail message.

We will always remember Walter as a friend.

Rest in peace, dear Walter.