Anyone who likes to take walks along the waterfront in Avalon has a good chance of spotting Walt Puffer, who swims in the bay at least four or five days a week. Those who know Walt, know that he is a very spry man, still, as he approaches his 94th birthday in January.
But daily swims are not something he started later in life to stay active, the water, sports and Catalina Island have been a big part of his life since he graduated high school. Walt began coming to the island as a summer lifeguard, after passing the lifeguard exams in 1947, the year he graduated from El Segundo High. He had been an athlete in high school, where he was a member of the swim team, and also played football, water polo and basketball, among other sports. But water sports were always a love and he still gets out for a swim whenever he can.
“I think that is what has kept me relatively healthy,” Walt said.
Walt fell in love with Catalina and in 1949 he met the love of his life on Catalina Island. He married his wife Dolores, in 1949 and the couple spent their honeymoon on the island, staying at the Las Casitas. Though Dolores has passed, the couple started a family with three children, that has since grown to eight grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren (with two more arriving in May). The oldest great-grandchild is a junior at El Segundo High, also playing sports for the Eagles.
Walt worked steadily as a lifeguard and was part of the first Baywatch crew in Avalon in 1970. But he would eventually graduate from UCLA with bachelors and masters in kinesiology (a term that replaced ‘physical education’ during his tenure there). With that, Walt began a career in education as a teacher/coach, principal and eventually Superintendent of Beverly Hills School District.
But he would still spend summers in Catalina, working as a lifeguard and living on his boat with Dolores. Walt said they spent summers living on the boat from 1970 to 1984, when Dolores said it was time to get a house on the island. Walt suggested a bigger boat, but she was done living on the water, so the bought a place in Canyon Terrace, where Walt still resides today.
He still has their home in El Segundo, but Avalon is his primary residence and he spends about 90 percent of his time here during summers and still about 70 percent the rest of the year. He still has the boat, that he and his daughter use, moving it to the island during summers and back usually around October.
A broken hip has Walt in rehab at the Catalina Island Medical Center, but he’s not going to give up his active lifestyle without a fight. And he has no plans to quit his morning swims in the bay either. Or his time on Catalina.
“I love the island,” Walt said.
Ted Apodaca is the editor of the Catalina Islander. He can be reached at 562-317-1100 or by email at editor@thecatalinaislander.com.
