Walter Trowbridge passed away in Henderson, Nevada on March 14 after a full and active life. Born in Sheboygan Falls,
Wisconsin, Walter (Laddie) travelled the world before retiring in Henderson with his loving wife Asiati.
Walter attended college at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where he met his first wife, Patricia McAdams. He then
attended the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign for one year. After they married, he was shipped to France to
complete his military service. On discharge they lived in Bordeaux then traveled through Europe and bicycled through
Norway, before settling down in Berkeley, California where he obtained his architecture degree from UC Berkeley and
their three daughters were born and raised: Rebecca (1957), Catharine (1959), and Cynthia (1960).
Walter moved to San Francisco and worked with Eichler Homes, a renowned developer of modernist-style homes, in his
spare time enjoyed sailing his boat on the bay. After marrying his second wife Jean Myra, they bought a VW camper and
drove across the country, visiting many parks and historical sites. After working in Chicago for a time, they moved to
London, then Walter took a job with an architectural firm in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. While in Africa, Walter travelled
the countryside, taking safaris and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. Their son David Trowbridge (1969) was born in Kenya.
After leaving Africa, Walter worked in London, then in New York, and later for Bechtel in San Francisco.
Wandering Walter next worked in Maui and then Jakarta, Indonesia where he met and married Asiati Sumirat. They
moved to Guam with her son Imam whom Walter adopted. They then lived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and then Abu Dhabi,
UAE, working on a variety of architectural projects funded by the US Air Force.
Finally returning to the United States, the family lived in the Los Angeles area for a time before settling in Henderson
where he helped to design the new Las Vegas airport terminal and runway. On a lark, he took a short job in Chennai,
India to train local architects the American building standards to withstand tsunami damage.
Walter was an amazing man, always enthralled with buildings and maps. He always planned his next move, based on
census figures of expanding economies. Walter’s specialty was concrete and its use in commercial structures. He worked
on a wide range of projects from building B-52 hangers and typhoon-proof telephone poles in Guam to remodeling
university buildings at Cal State Northridge, developing ocean thermal energy facilities in Hawaii to building banks in
Tanzania and training architects in India.
After retirement he took up writing a series of 15 historical romance novels, loosely based on his many adventures.
Walter is survived by his wife Asiati Sumirat Trowbridge; daughters Catharine Trowbridge (William Bryant) of Berkeley
and Cynthia Trowbridge (Hal Ross) of Newport, OR; sons Imam Santosa Trowbridge of Henderson, NV and David
Trowbridge of Portland, OR; three grand-daughters Raina, Lauren, and Marnie Bryant of Berkeley, CA; and many nieces
and nephews in Wisconsin. He was preceded in death by his parents Pauline Brickner Trowbridge and Stanley (Stoney)
Trowbridge; his brothers William Otis Trowbridge and Jeffery James Trowbridge, both of Sheboygan Falls; and daughter
Rebecca Trowbridge of San Francisco.
There will be a celebration of Walter's life on Wednesday November 11 for friends and family in Henderson, NV. For
more information, please call his daughter Catharine at 510-847-2975.
