By Patrick Webb
For The World
BROOKLYN — When an octogenarian is ailing, it’s unfair to label him a curmudgeon.
One exception lives in the woods of northern Pacific County.
“Well, I am,” Walt Twidwell said, with a wry grin. “No,” he frowned, “I’m a teddy bear in a grizzly bear frame.”
But now when the 81-year-old grumbles about something, he has just cause. The old sailor has mesothelioma, terminal cancer caused by prolonged exposure to asbestos.
Twidwell was a boiler tender and fireman for the U.S. Navy. His nearly 20 years in uniform began in the aftermath of the Korean conflict and lasted through Vietnam. He conducted maintenance and repairs in the engine and fire rooms of seven vessels ported in New York, California and Washington between 1954 and 1973.
$40.1 million award
During that time, Twidwell was exposed to asbestos dust released from the manipulation of gaskets. After a three-week trial last month, a New York jury retired for just two hours before awarding him $40.1 million in compensatory damages.
For a young person in the prime of health, that fortune could buy a lifestyle of world travel, luxury boats and fast cars.
But Twidwell doesn’t move fast or far these days.
Two quarts of fluid has been drained from his lungs. Attached to a industrial-sized oxygen tank by a thin green tube that snakes 20 feet or more across his wooden floor, he is home, preparing for the end.
Goodyear will appeal
And the New York bar association website reports that the defendant, Goodyear, is filing an appeal.
Mesothelioma has a latency period of 10 to 50 years. Last year, the Brooklyn resident experienced shortness of breath and a cough. Doctors diagnosed him with mesothelioma after an X-ray revealed a mass in his right lung.
In the 17 months since the diagnosis, he has deteriorated. “More and more and more, I’m having to rely on people to help me and that’s what hurts,” he told lawyers during his trial testimony.
The dangers of asbestos have been known since the early 1900s. Lawyers argued that the manufacturer, Goodyear, knew of the hazards as early as 1939, but never warned anyone.
Freemasony served him well
Twidwell testified for 14 hours over two consecutive days, beginning each session with a prayer for strength. He credits his discipline memorizing Freemasons’ rituals in assisting his recall of details from decades past. An opposing lawyer asked him to recite a Bible verse; the regular attendee at North River Christian Church was word perfect.
“While no amount of money will give Walter back his health, this result is fair compensation for his loss of his self-reliance and dignity,” said his attorney James Kramer, announcing the verdict.
Mike Carmel of Long Beach, past master of the Ilwaco lodge, flew to the East Coast to testify on Twidwell’s behalf. His admiration for his buddy is evident.
“Homesteader”
“He shoots his own food, catches his fish, grows his vegetables and cuts wood,” Carmel said. “He is like a homesteader, but with some modern advantages — although he built his house with hammer and saw and no electric tools.”
Twidwell was born in 1937, the son of a logger. He remembers logging camps packed with 500 men; now his North River Valley is home to barely 60 residents.
The oldest of four brothers (a sister died), Twidwell had a tough childhood. “Dad was proud of the kids, but when he disciplined you … you knew your ass had been kicked.”
Naval career
Eager not to become a logger, the teenager joined the U.S. Navy in 1954 just as the Korean conflict was winding down, serving on an aircraft carrier, Franklin D Roosevelt, and two destroyers, the Gurke and Zellars.
“I was not afraid to get dirty, even as a chief petty officer,” he said. “I put my ‘grubbies’ on. I was a hands-on chief.”
For nine years he sailed back and forth to Vietnam, serving seven years on the East Coast. Highlights included a brief stop in Plymouth, England, and a 1958 visit to Odessa in the Soviet Union.
In the 1970s, antiwar protestors did not differentiate between opposition to American foreign policy and those who served in uniform. “Didn’t like getting spit upon,” Twidwell said, recalling it happened at least twice. “You spit on me, the fight’s on!”
When Chief Petty Officer Twidwell retired in 1973, he sought jobs at steam plants touting his Navy training, only to be rejected as too expensive to hire.
His fallback job was inevitable.
“I joined the Navy at 17 because I didn’t want to be a logger,” he shrugged. “I ended up doing it when I got out. I love the woods, but I didn’t want to rely on it as it’s seasonal.”
He married twice and had five children, losing one daughter some while ago. He spent years of his adult life in Poulsbo, before returning home alone.
For two years, he lived in a camper on his 110 acres. “When I came in here there was nothing but brush. I had to start from scratch,” he said, gesturing around his house where ornate baskets of onions hang from the ceiling, jet-black iron skillets fill an orderly line of nails and a Winchester rifle lays across the bed.
There is no electricity, though he installed solar panels before it was fashionable. Water comes from a nearby spring and his stove is fueled by propane and wood; until recently, he split every log. Outside, his 6-year-old Dachshund, Hiram, greets visitors with a yap.
“It’s pretty simple, but it’s cosy,” said Twidwell. “I wish I could have passed on this ‘pioneer way’ to my kids. I taught them to dig clams, they liked that. But things like splitting cedar planks, they didn’t want any part of it. It bothered me.”
Twidwell joined the Freemasons at age 48; his ritual work is conducted in a gravelly, soft-spoken style.
Just before Christmas, he was installed as master of Wynooche 43, a tiny lodge in Montesano, 27 miles from his home. Two of the most senior members from the Washington Grand Lodge attended. He presented multiple fruit pies to his guests, a trademark gift.
“I like cooking,” said Twidwell, who shoots his own venison and catches fish in a creek out back. “I got tired of asking the neighbor lady to make me a pie. I used to take her apples, but I soon figured it out.”
It is his eighth year wearing the master’s hat. He has twice led his original lodge, Aberdeen 52 (now merged with Hoquiam), served three consecutive years at the helm in Ilwaco, and twice led Gavel 48 in Raymond, a lodge that joined with Ilwaco in 2016. He is a member of seven other groups with Masonic connections, including the Shriners.
Twidwell’s recent assignment was helping North River Road neighbor Jim Banas, long-time secretary of the old Raymond lodge, coordinate Bikes for Books, a program which encourages elementary students to read.
“It’s for the grin on the kids’ faces,” Twidwell commented on the rewards. “It gives them a challenge in life — ‘If I read all those books, I get a bicycle.’ It’s just a good warm feeling.”
He taught Banas how to operate a chainsaw, hunt for mushrooms and gave him guided tours of logging roads when the western Pennsylvania native became his neighbor in 1994. “He could point out where certain buildings were once located, when they maybe burned down, were abandoned, or torn down.” said Banas.
“When it comes to Masonry, Walt is encyclopedic in his knowledge of the fraternity. He was most often the ‘go-to guy’ when a brother passed away and we needed a Masonic funeral service,” said Banas, who frequently assisted as Twidwell’s Bible bearer.
Twidwell’s strong faith in an afterlife makes him unafraid. In refusing chemotherapy, he has gambled that his final days would be more endurable.
“Your body will tell you,” he said, recalling a frank appointment with doctors. “I want to go easy. I don’t want to go hurting. We all gotta go!
“I’ve had a good life; it’s been a hard life. When God calls me, I will not fight it. I will go … I have no choice.”
When the time comes, a lodge brother will recite an ancient funeral oration that Twidwell himself has done countless times.
“I don’t want to be remembered for the deeds done,” he said. “I want to be remembered for the man himself, the man that I am.”
For more information: www.mesothelioma.com
Walt Twidwell of Brooklyn, is pictured at the Ilwaco Masons lodge with an enlarged photo of himself in his U.S. Navy uniform. He served through the Vietnam era then became a logger. He is master of the lodge in Montesano. (Photo by Patrick Webb)
As master of Wynooche 43, Free and Accepted Masons of Washington, Walt Twidwell is the only member allowed to wear a hat inside the lodge at Montesano. After being installed as master last Christmas, Twidwell thanked North River neighbor Jim Banas, left. At center is Sherman Richmond of Ocean Park, past master of the Ilwaco Masons lodge. (Photo by Patrick Webb)
