Obituary: Elliott Noble Walstead

MADISON [Wisconsin] - Elliot Noble Walstead, age 95, passed away on Tuesday, January 23, 2001, in Hebron Hall, Oakwood Village, Madison. He was born on September 26, 1905, in Dalton, Minnesota, to the Rev. John and Ingeborge Walstead. Elliot attended Madison Central High School and UW-Madison, earning his law degree and being admitted to the Wisconsin bar in 1929.He was the assistant district attorney in Madison from 1935 until 1939. Elliot was the attorney and executive secretary for the Wisconsin Real Estate Brokers Board from 1938 until 1951. He married Madge Albright in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on December 26, 1942. Elliot served three years of active service in World War II as a Naval communications officer, Amphibious Forces, in the Pacific from 1942 until 1945. He was made lieutenant commander in the U.S. Naval Reserves in 1949. Elliot's many accomplishments included being the enforcement director of the Office of Price Stabilization for southern Wisconsin from 1951 until 1952; the state chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party from 1953 until 1955; qualified for practice before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1955; ran for U.S. Senate (defeated by Henry Maier) in 1956; was the deputy attorney general for the state of Wisconsin in 1962; was legal counsel to the governor of Wisconsin in 1963; appointed judge in Milwaukee County in 1964; recognized for 22 years of teaching in UW Extension law classes in 1967; recognized by the Milwaukee Bar Association as outstanding judge in 1977; and retired from Milwaukee County Court in 1978, continuing to served as a reserve judge. Elliot's wife, Madge, passed away on Thursday, January 25, 2001. Elliot is survived by his stepchildren, Dr. John G. (Lois) Albright of Madison, Eunice M. Dettman of Sturgis, Michigan; and six step-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his son, Robert Walstead; brother, Willard; two sisters, Grace and Inga; and two step-grandchildren, Paul Stewart and John David Albright. A memorial service is planned for late May 2001. Memorials may be made to the Oakwood Village Foundation, 6201 Mineral Point Road, Madison, WI 53705. Elliot was always an avid reader and could quote equally well from Dickens, Shakespeare, Churchill and the Bible. He had a keen sense of humor and was a master storyteller. But most of all he was a gentleman with a great sense of what is right and decent. One attorney said, If I could choose any man to be my father, I would choose Judge Walstead. Cress Funeral Service (608) 238-3434


Originally published in the Wisconsin State Journal on February 8, 2001; submitted by Michael Vahldieck (Class of 1968)