Carol Diane (Cord) Walder

Carol Diane (Cord) Walder was born on October 11th, 1938, in Des Moines, Iowa. She passed away on December 28th, 2023, in Covington, Washington after battling Alzheimer’s for several years.

Born the middle child of three to Carl Victor & Mary Elizabeth Cord, she had a wonderful childhood. She moved from Iowa to Southern California when she was just 6 months old. From an early age, her parents encouraged her to explore many interests including singing and dancing. She had a beautiful voice and later in life belonged to several choruses – in her 30s she belonged to the Pacific Palisades Chorale and sang a solo at the Hollywood Bowl. She also sang at several weddings.

She and her sister were very involved in the Lutheran Church growing up. In their’ teens, both served as Luther League presidents. She described many wonderful stories of traveling with the group – including a trip to Calgary (Alberta, Canada). Her brother was a very talented athlete and became an incredible teacher, mentor and coach.

She was a woman of many incredible talents: a fine artist, an interior designer, an excellent seamstress – she made beautiful clothes, dolls, puppets, marionettes, Christmas decorations and dried flower arrangements. (She and her sister had a puppet stage built and many children enjoyed performing in the plays that they wrote.) She instilled these interests in her three granddaughters who have all grown up to be very gifted and creative women.

She was an avid reader and her favorite question was “Why?” which led to a life-long pursuit of knowledge in history, philosophy, religion, geography and art, to name a few. She amassed quite a collection of books on all topics.

She loved to travel. Possessing a strong aversion to camping, she enjoyed travelling across the country in a large motorhome. She travelled to many countries in Europe: England, France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and Italy (her favorite). She also went to Africa (Kenya specifically) on a photographic safari.

She loved to garden and one of her favorite things to do was go to the nursery to find beautiful flowers, plants and trees.

She loved animals and had many precious pets throughout her life. She enjoyed having them sit on her lap and tucked them in at night like little children.

She had a gentle, kind and generous spirit which she shared with all the people she met. She was an angel on earth and is now one in heaven surrounded by family and friends.

She was loved and will be missed by so many.

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