Valter Kask was born October 20th, 1933 on Väike Kesselaid (off Muhu Island), Estonia. Along with his parents and two sisters Valter Kask was able to flee Soviet occupation to Germany in 1944, where he attended Estonian schools in the Flensburg and Lingen refugee camps. The family emigrated to the USA in 1949, where Valter Kask finished his high school education in Ontario, California. He continued at the University of California, Berkeley, from where he graduated as an engineer in 1955. Valter Kask belonged to the Estonian fraternity Korp! Rotalia, and served his community as a member of the boards of directors of the Los Angeles Estonian House and the West Coast Estonian Days. Valter Kask passed away on June 26, 2005 in Northridge, California.
Following are excerpts from an eulogy which was written by Bill Richtenberg, a former co-worker of Valter Kask’s, and forwarded to this paper by a schoolmate from the Flensburg days.
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In about three weeks it will be 50 years since a young Valter Kask reported for his first day of work at North American Aviation's Rocketdyne Santa Susana Field Laboratory. On July 20th, 1955 with his engineering diploma from U.C. Berkeley in hand, Valter's long and very successful career in Rocket Propulsion was underway.
Valter and those he worked with in those early days were to change the world during their careers. Valter was involved in the development of Rocket Engines for Intercontinental and Medium Range Ballistic Missiles, satellites, spacecraft, Minutemen and Peacekeeper Weapon Systems, space exploration with Mars Orbiter and Lander, Space Shuttle Orbiter, and the Apollo Moon Landing Program.
After learning of Valter's passing, as many co-workers and friends from Rocketdyne as could be located were contacted. Many have moved to other areas for retirement, however, Valter has joined an ever increasing number from his generation that have passed away.
When Jack Hahn, who hired Valter in 1955 was contacted, he recalled the many projects he and Valter worked on together. When told that we were writing a eulogy he said “say nice things about Valter, he was a really good guy”. He said Valter was an outstanding component development engineer who learned fast and adapted rapidly to changes in requirements. He remembered Valter's Estonian accent that sounded much like German and said it might have given him a little extra respect, as he reminded people of the German experts at our Army customer in Huntsville, Alabama.
Through the years, Valter assumed greater and greater responsibility as he was promoted into management positions.
In 1965 he was assigned Supervisor of Engine Development for the Army's Lance Battlefield Weapon System. Later he was Project Engineer of the Minutemen Axial Propulsion Engine. In 1978, Valter was Principal Engineer of Peacekeeper 4th stage system testing, a position he would maintain for a number of years. During the Cold War, Valter managed classified propulsion programs supporting the gathering of intelligence on Russia from satellites.
During the Apollo era, Valter managed a series of engine development programs for Gemini and Apollo. The Apollo program led to US astronauts landing on the Moon and collecting samples of the Moon's surface for analysis here on Earth.
Valter had a very special ability and willingness to share his wide range of experience with the younger engineers when they had problems they couldn't solve. He typically did not solve their problems for them. Instead, he would point them in the right direction and help them stay on track.
Fred Vote was also hired by Jack Hahn and he started his career the same day in 1955 that Valter did. Fred worked at Rocketdyne with Valter for many years and then moved to the Jet Propulsion Lab and became a customer of Rocketdyne. Fred and Valter continued their long relationship as Rocketdyne supported JPL with their space propulsion needs. Fred said “Valter was the kind of guy you like to work with, he was the guy you respected and he was so honest it was amazing.”
Ed Shuster, who Valter worked for on the Peacekeeper Program, said “Valter was very organized and very methodical in addition to being well versed in the Rocket Engine and Test Operations business”. “The best example of this is when the Lieutenant Colonel who was responsible for the program told me that before he reviewed anyone else's comment on plans, test requirements, etc., he always read Valter's first because he knew that he could pretty much scan the others”. Valter always covered everything.
It is with sadness that we say good bye to our good friend Valter.
We will miss him.
Valter Kask 1933-2005 (1)
In Memoriam | 29 Jul 2005 | EWR
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