Walter Earl Shanly was serving in the Engineering Corps of the Navy at the time of his death from influenza on October 15, 1918. He died in his hometown, Bellingham, Washington, while visiting his parents as he waited to be called into service. He had originally enlisted in the Army but had been discharged for health reasons. He later successfully enlisted in the Navy.
The older of Walter Gregg Shanly and his wife, Minnie Hockey’s two children, Walter was a born in Globe, Arizona, and moved to Bellingham at a young age. He was a 1910 graduate of Whatcom High School. While at the UW he played football and basketball, served as sergeant major of the cadets, was a member of the Badger Debate club and Theta Chi Fraternity. He graduated with a degree in electrical engineering in 1916.
On October 29, 1918 — just days after Walter’s death — his only sibling, younger sister Mabel Lillian Shanly, succumbed to complications from influenza, as well, leaving their parents childless in the space of two weeks. Mabel was a graduate of the Normal School (now Western Washington University) and a teacher. Walter is buried together with his sister and parents at Bellingham’s Bayview Cemetery. (bit.ly/uw_shanly)