Influenza claimed the life of another well-known UW athlete, Sergeant Walter Clifford Dunbar, of Company B, 161st Infantry. Walter died of pneumonia following influenza on December 30, 1918 in France. Walter went overseas with the 161st in December of 1917. A native of Michigan, Walter was one of five children born to William Henry Dunbar and Nellie Catherine Doust. Walter was a 1910 graduate of Seattle High School — where he was known as Skinny — and then worked his way through the School of Mines at the University of Washington. His 1911 undergraduate thesis was titled “Excavation of ground and timbering used during construction of the north trunk sewer in Seattle, Washington.”
Walter was coxswain of the varsity rowing club for three years and went to Poughkeepsie under Coach Conibear where the Washington boat took an impressive third place. Dunnie, as he was known at the UW, was the captain of the rowing team, a class officer, and contributor to both the Pacific Wave (the precursor to The Daily) and the UW’s yearbook, the Tyee. He was considered as a rowing coach for UC Berkeley but went on to receive a Masters in Civil Engineering from the UW instead. Walter is buried at St. Mihiel American Cemetery in France. (bit.ly/uw_dunbar)