Edith Knauss Walsh

Edith Knauss Walsh, having lived for a remarkable 100 years and four months, died peacefully at 8:30 AM on Thanksgiving Day, 2021 in San Diego, California with her son Dennis and his wife Jan by her side. A dedicated matriarch, U.S. NAVY petty officer and AT&T district manager, she is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, three grandchildren and four great grandchildren.

Edith was born in Los Angeles, California on July 26, 1921 and lived in California for her entire life with the exception of time spent in Washington, DC. while serving in the U.S. Navy during WW II. She and her older sister, Hazel were raised by their parents, Lily Mae Knauss (nee Gipson) and Charlie Louis Knauss, until her mother’s sudden death when Edith was 12 years old. Tragically, her father was killed in a car accident only one year later. After their father’s death, Edith and Hazel were raised by their mother’s sister and husband until they graduated from high school.

Edith attended Washington High School in Los Angeles where she developed a love for classical music and singing. She had a particularly lovely singing voice and eagerly took part in all of her high school’s musical productions. Edith continued to sing as a soloist in several church choirs for almost forty years. In later years, she loved to sing all the hit songs from the 40’s and 50’s with her grandchildren. They would sing and dance to them for hours on end.

While at Washington High School, she became close friends with Esther Williams, a national champion swimmer who later became one of the most successful movie actresses of the 40’s and 50’s. Edith was a bridesmaid at Esther’s wedding in 1940.

After high school, Edith worked as a telephone operator for AT&T in Los Angeles until she joined the Navy in 1943. By the time she left the Navy in 1945, she had risen through the enlisted ranks to the rate of Petty Officer Second Class with a specialty of handling secret and top-secret communications at the Navy Building in Washington, DC.

While in the Navy she fell in love with her future husband, Ira Paul Walsh, who worked in public relations for the Hearst Corporation and the Hearst Foundation for thirty-five years. They had two children, Susan, born in 1947 and Dennis, in 1949. Soon after, they moved the young family to Norwalk, California where she was a homemaker and mother.

As her children grew, she became the troop leader for the largest Brownie and Girl Scout troops in Norwalk. During this time, she was also a swimming instructor, a teaching assistant at her children’s elementary school, and was heavily involved in volunteering for her church.

In 1961, Edith and her family moved to the San Francisco Bay area when her husband was transferred there by the Hearst Corporation. When her children graduated from high school and went away to college, she returned to work at AT&T where she rose to the position of district manager. She retired from AT&T in 1983 to care for her husband who had become ill and eventually passed away in 1985. She then moved to San Diego, California to be closer to her children and grandchildren.

It was at this time in her life that she developed a passion for walking as a form of exercise. She and her rescue dog Duchess walked five miles a day, every day, for many years and she continued walking as far as she was able until her final days.

She drove a car until she was 96 and she lived in her home independently until she was 99 ½ years old.

When Edith turned 98, she excitedly realized that she might actually live to be 100 years old and she decided to make that her goal for the next two years! She was thrilled when her entire family arrived from all over the country to surprise her and celebrate her 100th birthday at the Hotel Del Coronado in July, 2021.

Edith was predeceased by her loving husband Ira in 1985, her devoted sister Hazel in 2007, and by her extraordinary and beautiful daughter, Susan Brownstein, who died suddenly in 2011.

Her surviving family, son Dennis and his wife Jan of San Diego, granddaughter Lynly and her husband Ryan Packer of Denver, Colorado, grandsons Chad Walsh of Austin, Texas, and Aaron Browntein and his wife Allison Schroeder of Studio City, California, and beloved great grandchildren, Elawyn and Rylan Packer and Emily and Juliet Brownstein, remain inspired by her poise, sophistication, and genuinely profound love for her family. There is a hole in our hearts, and we will miss her deeply.

Edith will be buried next to her husband at Pacific View Memorial Park in Newport Beach, California on December 9, 2021 at 11:00 AM. A memorial service will be held at Pacific View Memorial Park Chapel on December 28, 2021 at 1:00 PM.

In lieu of flowers, should friends desire, donations may be sent to the Gary Sinise Foundation at www.GarySiniseFoundation.org, Honoring Our Defenders, Veterans, First Responders, Their Families and Those in Need.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.pacificviewcalifornia.com for the Walsh family.