Walter Kase

1929 - 2015

Walter Kase
1929-2015
On March 4, 2015 Dr. Walter Kase, age 85, cherished husband, father, grandfather, and friend, died peacefully with his loving family at his side. Although one of Houston's most recognized, admired, and beloved Holocaust Survivors has left us, his inspirational voice of tolerance and acceptance will live on forever to make the world a better place.
Walter was admired for his integrity, ambition, kindness, and compassion. He had phenomenal business insight and always took pride in how he presented himself. He valued life, and nurtured those things most important to him -- family, friendship, and community. Walter, an immigrant to this country, spoke Polish, Russian, German, and Yiddish, yet he mastered the English language to become a proficient, articulate, and eloquent communicator. He had a keen intellect, was a voracious reader, and loved sports, poker, and the arts. Like a walking encyclopedia, Walter's steel trap of a mind was a repository of facts, figures, history, current events, ideas, quotes, and jokes. He possessed a great sense of humor and always gave tirelessly of himself in all endeavors he undertook. To many, he was a mentor, consultant, and guidance counselor. He was an extremely proud American who loved the United States, and was ever grateful for its freedoms and opportunities. Ultimately, Walter will be remembered as a Champion of the Human Spirit who lived the American Dream despite overcoming unimaginable odds. He was a vigorous, dynamic, sophisticated man of honor and values, a Mensch in every sense of the word -- a true and treasured hero who touched countless lives.
Walter Kase was born Wladyslaw Kasrylewicz in Lodz, Poland on August 17, 1929. He and his younger sister, Rysia, had a large family of 14 aunts and uncles, all married with children. All of Walter's cousins were girls, so as the only boy, he was regarded as a special gift to the entire family. His parents, Harry (Chaim) and Eva (Evalina), owned an industrial dying plant and the largest commercial laundry in Lodz. Walter had fond memories of a loving home filled with family and friends, Sunday afternoon teas with impromptu classical music concerts, and sitting on his grandfather's lap at Passover Seders. Although he lived in a sheltered and well-to-do environment, he could not understand nor escape the plague of anti-Semitism, which in 1939 turned his life upside down as the tentacles of what would become the Holocaust reached into his hometown.
From age ten to fifteen, Walter's life was progressively and horrifically transformed beyond words. He saw his family's business, home, and possessions confiscated. He experienced the hunger and overcrowding of the Lodz and Kielce ghettos, and cruel selection processes where the elderly, the sick, and young children, including Walter's little sister, were executed before his eyes as families were ripped apart and sent to labor and extermination camps. Walter and his parents endured the packed freight car ride to Auschwitz-Birkenau and further selection processes to determine who would live and who would die. Walter and his father were quickly separated from his mother upon arrival in Auschwitz, and the dehumanization process continued as Walter became B479 -- tattooed on his arm, etched into his skin for life along with devastating memories etched into his young mind.
More unspeakable atrocities, starvation, malnutrition, hard labor, disease, and in Walter's words, "man's inhumanity to man" awaited him and his father in Pionke, Sosnowiec, Dachau, Bergen-Belsen, Mauthausen, and Gunskirchen until, at death's doorstep, they were liberated by the 71st Infantry Division of the United States Army on May 5, 1945. A young American soldier burst into tears upon sight of the surviving human skeletons, and gave Walter a Hershey bar, which remained his favorite candy for the rest of his life.
A military ambulance transported Walter and his father to a hospital in Wels, Austria. Tragically and ironically, after each of them risked his own life to save the other many times throughout their horrendous ordeal, Walter's 39-year-old father died in the hospital from dire starvation and malnutrition 30 days later to join the total of 70 of his family members lost in the Holocaust. All that remained of Walter's family was a cousin in Sweden and his mother, who he joyously found upon returning to Poland after a three-month recovery from his own dreadful ailments.
Even after the war, anti-Semitism continued in Poland resulting in the deaths of many Jews that tried to get their property back. Walter and his mother decided that they had suffered too much to now be killed over material belongings, so they returned to Germany under the guidance of the UJA and HIAS organizations. They lived in a Displaced Persons Camp for two years, after which Walter had the opportunity to come to the United States ahead of his mother through the sponsorship of the U.S. Children's Committee, a group of affluent Americans organized by Eleanor Roosevelt to offer a new life to young Holocaust victims. Walter was one of 400 selected from 32,000 applicants, and in 1947 he arrived in New York aboard the S.S. Ernie Pyle. Given a choice of several locations in which to settle, Walter chose Kansas City, MO because this particular destination would give him his very first airplane ride.
Like so many Survivors who came to the U.S. with no family, education, language, money, or profession, Walter was determined to thrive, make a new life for himself, and pursue the American Dream. Starting with a Polish-English dictionary, his exceptional intellect, and his ambitious drive, he studied and worked through high school and junior college, finishing six years of school in two years while holding down several jobs. He also met a nice Jewish girl, Lila Greenstein, at the Jewish Community Center, and they began dating. Walter was also able to bring his mother to the United States, and she re-married and eventually settled in Washington, D.C.
With his dashingly handsome movie-star looks, charismatic personality, remarkable presence, and (his words) "sexy accent", Walter turned out to be a natural at, you guessed it, sales. Impressive and confident, he convinced the owner of a wholesale costume jewelry company to give him an opportunity as a sales representative. While training for his new job and learning to drive a car, Walter, now age 20, and Lila, 19, married in 1950. Four months later Walter was drafted into the Army during the Korean War and was shipped to Germany, extremely proud to be there as an American soldier.
Upon completion of military service, Walter resumed his costume jewelry sales career and was offered the opportunity to move to Houston and build a new territory for the company in Texas and Louisiana. He and Lila started a family with the birth of a daughter Risha (named in memory of Walter's sister) in 1952, then a son Kenny in 1956. While Walter's mother had a new life herself and enjoyed seeing her son's happiness and family, she never recovered from the excruciating experience of the Holocaust. Plagued by constant grief and unbearable memories, she died of heart failure at the age of 54.
Ever more determined to earn a good living and provide for his family, Walter spent weeks at a time "on the road" giving up time at home to develop new customers and call on existing ones, many of whom became dear friends. As Walter went on over the years to become the company's most successful sales rep, he utilized his now astute business acumen to explore and develop his entrepreneurial talents, becoming a silent partner in a clothing import company. As Walter's business endeavors grew, he and Lila grew apart and they were divorced in 1975. Around this time, Walter took a bold risk and left his comfortable, established sales job to go full-time into the import business.
In 1976, Walter married Sylvia Christine Oshman, and their marriage blossomed over the years as did the import business, now infused with Walter's focused leadership and relentless work ethic. They developed a wide circle of close friends through business and community involvement, enjoying many travels, social and charitable activities, and special occasions with them and their families. Of his romance with Chris, Walter has said, "In my wife I have a soul mate who has given me more love, affection, and compassion than one can get in several lifetimes." More love came into Walter's life from Chris's children, daughter Heidi and son Randy. He accepted and loved them as his own, and although they addressed him as "Uncle Walter" they adored him as a father. And the best was yet to come – grandson Daniel and granddaughter Kaitlyn. The blended and extended family shared many years of memorable get-togethers, dinners, holidays, celebrations, and splendid family vacations. Walter was living life to its fullest – his American Dream had not only been realized, it surpassed his wildest expectations.
In 1990, Walter sold his interest in the import business to his remaining partner and "retired" at the age of 60 to devote more time to his wonderful life and family. But a new type of career was just beginning. While Walter continued to enjoy dabbling in business endeavors here and investments there, including involvement with a finance company for over 20 years, his new passion and mission in life had been ignited three years earlier. Invited to speak for the first time to Sealy High School students about his Holocaust experiences, he discovered a bond with this new generation near the same age he was when his torment began, connecting with them in a special and meaningful way to demonstrate how certain behaviors and events today, if left unchecked, could very well result in history repeating itself. In Walter's words regarding all Survivors who are still with us, "There is no substitute for the sheer power of personal testimony, and I consider it our duty, our obligation, and yes, our eulogy, to speak of this most dreadful era in our past."
For as long as he was able over the next 25 years until Parkinson's disease diminished his ability to do so, Walter spoke as many as 70 times a year connecting to thousands of students. But Walter's connection left students with more than a lesson about the extremes of bigotry and prejudice, driven home with his profound phrase, "Hate destroys, Love builds". They realize they should appreciate and never take for granted their freedom, parents, family, love, education, food and shelter. "Tell those close to you that you love them and appreciate them. We all make time for so many mundane things that too often we neglect to show love, respect, and appreciation to those who make our very lives worth living."
Walter's accomplishments and achievements have been recognized on numerous occasions by many organizations. Some of his most notable honors include: First recipient of the St. Augustine Award from St. Thomas University in recognition of his life-changing impact on others, Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Houston Civil Rights Hero Award, Lifelong ADL Honorary Member of our National Commission, the State of Texas Governor's Award for Volunteers, The Social Book's Houston Treasures, H Texas Magazine's "Leaders and Legends", ADL Centennial Medallion, Board Member of Houston Holocaust Museum, and the Walter Kase Commons at Hamilton Middle School. Walter's most prized and precious honor – the multitudes of moving letters he received from thousands of inspired students, teachers, and admirers.
Seventeen years ago, the ADL established the annual Walter Kase Teacher Excellence Awards in his honor to pay tribute to three educators for their outstanding efforts to create a school atmosphere that promotes respect for and understanding of diversity – "No Place For Hate". And in 2011, the University of Houston bestowed upon Walter an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree in recognition of his unfaltering contributions to the community and his involvement with UH students, faculty and staff, most notably in the Graduate College of Social Work.
Becoming Dr. Walter Kase before a thunderous standing ovation in Hofheinz Pavilion was truly a proud pinnacle of fulfillment for Walter. In addition, the annual ADL Walter Kase Teacher Excellence Awards luncheon was always a meaningful occasion for him because he held teachers in the highest regard. To Walter, teaching was "one of the noblest professions". At one luncheon he said, "While it is an honor for me that the award you are now about to receive bears my name, it is an even greater honor to have the names of such wonderful teachers and human beings associated with it. Of the achievements that I have been fortunate enough to accomplish in my life, I am confident that my parents would be extremely proud of this one."
Walter is survived by his devoted wife, Chris, daughter and son-in-law Risha and Patrick Dozark, grandson Daniel Dozark, son and daughter-in-law Kenneth and Linda Kase, stepdaughter and son-in-law Heidi and David Massin, granddaughter Kaitlyln Massin, and stepson Randy Oshman. Walter also kept in contact and enjoyed visits with his cousin in Sweden, Dzidzia Belchatowski, her husband, Szajek, and their children, Sara and Jonny, now married with their own children and grandchildren. Walter cherished this only link to his lost family in Poland. After Szajek and Dzidzia were gone, Walter maintained an especially deep attachment and wonderful relationship with Sara and her husband, Lennart Mankowitz, who love him dearly.
The family wishes to recognize with much appreciation the compassionate care and support of the dedicated medical professionals and caregivers who looked after Walter these past few years: Dr. Susan Williams, Dr. Eugene Lai, Dr. Ed Massin, Ivan Narvaez, William Marcano, Teresa Lopez, Jose Ramirez, Thelma Canterberry, Stephanie Elzy, Felicia Roberts, Accessible Home Care, and the doctors, nurses, and staff of Methodist Hospital's Medical ICU and Houston Hospice.

A memorial service to celebrate our Walter's incredible life will be held Sunday, March 8, 4:30 p.m. at Congregation Beth Israel, 5600 N. Braeswood Blvd, Houston, TX 77096.

In lieu of flowers, food, or other gifts, the family requests that donations in Walter's memory be made to the Anti-Defamation League (houston.adl.org), Holocaust Museum Houston (www.hmh.org), Houston Area Parkinson Society (www.hapsonline.org), Houston Hospice (www.houstonhospice.org), or any charity of your choice.
Reflecting on his own thoughts about his legacy, Walter said many times, "I would like to be remembered as someone who tried --- tried to make the world a better place." And while no one person will ever achieve this lofty goal, he most certainly succeeded in making a better human being of each and every one whose life he touched. Walter was also profoundly moved by the following poem (author unknown), which he sometimes carried in his pocket:
Weep not for me though I am gone into the gentle night.
Grieve if you will, but not for long, upon my soul's sweet flight.
I am at peace, my soul's at rest, there is no need for tears.
For with your love I was so blessed, for all these many years.
There is no pain, I suffer not, the fear now all is gone.
Put now these things out of your thoughts, in your memory I live on.
Remember not my fight for breath, remember not the strife.
Please do not dwell upon my death, but celebrate my life.