Walter Emmons Bragdon

Longtime Petaluma resident, Walter “Wally” Bragdon, died on January 27th from complications of a stroke and Covid-19, just days shy of his 88th birthday.  He was born on February 11, 1933 to Kenneth L. and Gladys Johnson Bragdon, in Waterloo, Iowa.  After graduating from West High School in Waterloo, he was accepted at Grinnell College, from which he graduated in 1955 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business and Economics.

A competitive swimmer at Grinnell, the highlight of his college years was when he met his wife, Marilyn Reid, from Mariemont, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati.  After graduation, Wally moved to Los Angeles to start his service in the U.S. Army at Fort MacArthur, while Marilyn moved to Denver to start her teaching career.  As their wedding day approached, Wally experienced the hurdles thrown at characters in the movie “Trains, Planes and Automobiles” with a long flight to Waterloo and three blow-outs (tires) as he fought his way from Waterloo to Mariemont for the ceremony.  Thankfully, he made it and the young couple were married on June 23, 1956.

The newlyweds traveled across the country to start their life together in Long Beach, California, where Wally finished his military service.  He was assigned to the motor pool where he drove generals and other bigwigs around the greater Los Angeles area (yes, there are many stories to share from the experience!)  After Wally was discharged from the service in 1957, he started his life-long career in banking.

With an MBA from UCLA, and as a Graduate from the Pacific Coast Banking School, Wally enjoyed a 46-year career in banking that took him from Los Angeles, where he worked at Bank of America and Union Bank, to Sacramento where he was employed by Imperial Bank and Meridian Bank, and to Petaluma in 1987, where he became the founding President and CEO of the Bank of Petaluma.

Active in community affairs, Wally was a 33-year member and Past President of the Petaluma Rotary Club and served on the Petaluma Valley Hospital Foundation Board, where he was instrumental in creating the foundation and the campaign to raise funds for new equipment and service quality.  Throughout the years, he has led and served on the boards of many non-profit organizations including Petaluma Ecumenical Projects, Petaluma People Services Center, Pack 8 of the Miwok District of the Boy Scouts, Cancer Society, and the Santa Rosa Junior College Foundation. He was also a long-time member of the Petaluma Historical Museum.

After retirement, he was surprised and humbled to be chosen as the 2005 Petaluma Citizen of the Year, an award that is sponsored by the Petaluma Area Chamber of Commerce and the Argus-Courier.  Wally shared at the time that his father, an insurance broker in Waterloo, strongly believed in community service, adding “…I guess it rubbed off on me.”

As busy parents, Wally and Marilyn raised three sons, Kirk Matthew born in 1958, Theodore Reid in 1961 and Douglas Weare in 1967.  One of Wally’s favorite pastimes was to spend vacations at Pinecrest with extended family and friends, ultimately purchasing a family cabin blocks from the lake with the Bergsund Clan in 1987.   When the grandchildren came along, he helped to run “Camp Cousins” for a week each summer – an annual gathering of the grandchildren/cousins to enjoy swimming, sailing, hiking, crafts, singing around the campfire and building family ties.  Known within the family as “Gramps” and “Unk,” he loved golf, racquetball, ping-pong and sailing at Pinecrest, determined not to miss the 3:00 start-time of the daily El Toro races.  He was a great card player, introducing his sons and daughters-in-law (aka “the dwarfs”) to the ins and outs of poker, and all the grandkids (aka, “Minis”) to “Oh Hell.”  As the years pass, these grandkids/cousins continue to head up to the cabin, sharing their love of the lake and the mountains with family and friends.

With a great sense of humor, easy-going and outgoing, Wally and Marilyn are avid bridge players.  They are long-time members of a local gourmet group and have enjoyed many trips over the years with friends and family including numerous “hunts” for the perfect New England-style country antiques to add to the inventory of their Mothers Lode antique business.  As the grandkids grew up and graduated from “Camp Cousins,” Wally and Marilyn shared their love of travel and adventure by coordinating and hosting annual family trips that took generations of Bragdons across the country, to Costa Rica and cruising along the Mexican Riviera.

As Gramps would say when asked what guides him, “It is to be a good citizen, to help where one can help and stay close to family.”

Wally is survived by his wife of nearly 65 years, Marilyn, his three sons and their wives, Kirk and Suzanne, Ted and Janis, and Doug and Alice; grandchildren Zachary, Stephanie, Boone, Dakota and Sedona; one great-granddaughter expected in June; and his sister-in-law Joan Bergsund.  He is predeceased by his parents, siblings John Bragdon and Betty Sharnik, and sister-in-law, Marcia Reid Macklin.  Plans for a celebration of life are pending given the pandemic.  Memorial donations may be sent to the Rotary Foundation (https://www.rotary.org/en/donate) or Petaluma Valley Hospital Foundation ( https://www.stjoesonoma.org/foundations/donate-online/).

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