'He always had a smile'

COEUR d'ALENE - Ace Walden was a great man, said Don Sausser.

Not just because he was a loving husband, philanthropist, a North Idaho College booster, a 50-year Rotary Club member and a successful banker.

No, he was a great man because of what he did for others, Sausser said. Ace Walden was a man who took the time to share a smile, tell a story, leave those around him laughing and feeling like his best friend - that they mattered.

"He'll be missed here, I'll tell you," Sausser said. "He was everybody's friend."

Walden, one of Coeur d'Alene's most beloved and respected residents, passed away peacefully Saturday afternoon at his home with friends at his side.

He was 103.

Considered the patriarch of the Lake City, Walden moved here with his family when he was 4 years old.

He would go on to leave a lasting legacy.

He spent 42 years in banking, 30 years in the Coeur d'Alene Chamber, worked with the North Idaho College Foundation and the Kootenai Medical Center Foundation.

He and his wife Ellen were instrumental in founding the Kootenai Cancer Center. The Walden House, where people can stay while loved ones are in the hospital, bears his name.

He worked hard, earned a good living, was a savvy businessman, but didn't keep his money for himself. Never did. The way he saw things, the money was meant to be spent, not just for his benefit.

It was the people who mattered to Ace Walden.

He would make his mark through a lifetime of giving and helping those around him achieve their goals.

Coeur d'Alene Mayor Sand Bloem was saddened to hear of Walden's death Saturday.

When asked what Ace meant to the community, she said, "Where does one start?"

"This community should feel privileged and honored we had him as many years as we did," Bloem said. "He was a model for community spirit, being a gentleman, taking care of others, and all with an incredible sense of humor."

Bloem said she will miss Ace most for his boundless spirit and the love he had for his hometown and those he came to know.

"He always had a smile," she said.

Dave Carpenter, a Rotarian, knew Walden well and attended the same church, First Presbyterian, with him for 30 years.

"He was unique. He really was. He was quite a guy," Carpenter said. "He wasn't over-puffed with himself at all. He had a tremendous sense of humor, good common sense."

Carpenter said Walden had a way of making people feel welcome, of making strangers feel like they were longtime friends.

He said Walden loved to make people laugh, smile and feel good about life, about themselves.

"More than anything, in the times I had dealing with him, it was his sense of humor that was so special. It was fun to be around the gentleman. Everyone liked to be around him."

Carpenter said Walden had a wonderful memory and could tell stories that just went on and on and on, and the listener would sit, enthralled, hanging on the words that spilled from his lips.

"I wish I could have started recording him and just let it go," he said.

Sausser became a friend of Walden's in 1973 through the NIC Booster Club. He recalled a luncheon at the Iron Horse restaurant and asking Walden, "What do you do?"

"I'm in money," Walden answered.

"That was his way of saying he was banker," Sausser said.

The two went on to be good friends. When Sausser moved into the Lake Tower Apartments where Walden lived, he visited often and drove his friend to booster meetings, or sometimes just on long drives and as the miles passed, Walden would tell stories.

"He enjoyed all that," Sausser said.

Walden, he said, "was a subtle character.

"He was like an old banker sometime, barking orders, and if you barked back a little bit, he just turned into a pussy cat," Sausser said.

Bill Drake knew Walden when he was the manager of the only bank in town, Idaho First National Bank.

Over the years, through the Rotary Club, they became friends.

"He was a great guy. He was a principled guy, one of the most principled men I ever knew," Drake said. "He said it like it was. He didn't mince words at all."

Drake said Walden had a quick wit and sharp sense of humor.

In his later years, as his health failed, Drake said Walden would still attend some Rotary Club meetings. When people saw him, they would ask, "Ace, how's it going?"

"Well, pretty good," Walden would answer. "But that's only one man's opinion."

Drake recounted a story during a time he was president of the Rotary Club, and Walden called him up and said he wanted to make an anonymous gift to the organization.

"I don't want anybody to find out," he told Drake.

Drake told Walden he would be sure no one knew where the gift came from, to which Walden said, "Well, you better, because if the word gets out I'm taking it back and you get to pay it."

Walden, Drake said, was the kind of man who would gladly go the mile with you - or for you.

"He left a positive impression on a lot of people in the community."

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