WALTER CHRISTIE / 1914-2004
Travel, ‘getting the dirt’
among writer's passions
Walter Christie stuck with his passions.
Write-ups on the latest planes, the latest movies and the latest in Honolulu nightlife litter the former editor's 30-year career at the Star-Bulletin.
And his portfolio -- which includes several pieces in the show business publication Variety -- is sprinkled with far-off datelines, from Mexico City to Oslo.
Walter Christie: His stories took him worldwide and appeared in national magazines
"He was a real firecracker," said Christie's great-nephew, Jeff Mareck. "He liked what he did ... (and so) made it a profession."
Christie, who enjoyed traveling, good entertainment and "getting the dirt on everybody," died yesterday in Honolulu, Mareck said. The Honolulu resident was 89.
"He knew the islands," said Charles Frankel, a former editor at the Star-Bulletin who worked with Christie for more than a decade. "He knew people."
Christie was born in California. He attended the University of California at Berkeley, where his father was a well-known track coach, as the Great Depression was in full swing.
He graduated with a degree in journalism and went to work for the Hanford Daily Sentinel, where he stayed until taking a position in 1942 as a Star-Bulletin telegraph editor.
From the late '40s to the early '70s, Christie's byline appeared on dozens of Star-Bulletin editorials and entertainment features. He was aboard United Airlines' inaugural flight from Honolulu to San Francisco in 1947, and wrote in his subsequent story that the "sky monarch exhibited all the aspects of a flying country club."
In the 1950s, Christie started a column called "The Moviegoer," and became a critic of Hollywood's latest productions as he was also diving into the local entertainment scene.
His stories, on everything from theater and culture to modern air travel, took him to Asia and Europe. He also wrote features for Variety and several national travel magazines that centered on his hobbies, including weight lifting and swimming.
Christie's physique was featured in a 1950 issue of Muscle magazine, published in Belgium.
By the 1970s, Christie had moved to the newspaper's copy desk. He retired from the Star-Bulletin in 1974, the same year he was diagnosed with a fast-spreading skin cancer that would require several reconstructive face surgeries.
Christie kept positive, but the combination of a misshapen profile and the loss of his longtime companion drove him to drink, said caretaker and friend John Peinert.
Finally, at 84, Christie overcame his decades-old alcohol addiction. He celebrated his fifth year of sobriety last October.
"It was such an inspiration," Peinert said. "He was just a great example of a human being."
Christie is also survived by cousin Faith Mareck-Kuhn of Honolulu. A private ceremony for Christie will be held next month at Kaimana Beach.
