by Caleb Fort
Daily Lobo
Beth Gattas-Waskow said when her father applied to be the first director of Parking and Transportation Services during the Vietnam War, he was asked a strange question.
"When he was interviewed for the job, they asked if he was worried about his house being bombed," she said. "He thought, 'Jesus, what a stupid question.'"
Her father, Walter Birge, who started the off-campus paid parking system, died on Sept. 14 of prostate cancer. He was 87.
Gattas-Waskow said UNM's administration was worried students would be so angry about the change in parking they might become violent toward the director.
Joe McKinney, who was campus planner when Birge was hired, remembered working with him.
"The framework for paid parking was already in place, but Walter was always trying to see if it could be improved," he said. "Walter was always pushing for a better system. Some of the things that he did and I did are still there."
McKinney said he and Birge originally thought of the idea for shuttles from off-campus lots because they tried it themselves. McKinney would drive the route they thought a shuttle should take, using Birge's Volkswagen Beetle. Birge would wait in a parking lot by Physical Plant and then ride the pretend shuttle to campus.
McKinney said Birge got from his house to campus seven minutes faster that way than by using the system of parking lots that was in place.
Birge was born in Chicago on July 6, 1918.
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He enlisted in the Army Air Corps during World War II, where he served as a bombardier in the European theater. After the Air Corps became the Air Force, he served as a bombardier instructor at Kirtland Air Force Base, which is how he first came to New Mexico and met his wife, Elizabeth.
However, since he had a military career, he did not stay in New Mexico. Gattas-Waskow said in addition to serving during World War II, Birge also went overseas for the Korean War and the Vietnam War.
Gattas-Waskow said Birge had several medals, but did not talk much about his military service.
"A lot of people that were in a war, they don't like to talk about it," she said. "They did their duty."
When Birge retired from the military in 1969, he came back to New Mexico and got his job at UNM.
After serving as the director of parking and transportation for 10 years, Birge worked at UNM's North and South Golf Courses. Gattas-Waskow said Birge would want to be remembered as a golfer.
Lilo Daddio, who worked at the golf course with Birge for about eight years, said she enjoyed working with him.
"Walter had a wonderful sense of humor. He was naughty, and he was not always the most polite guy," she said. "He was a crotchety old man, and some people just rubbed him the wrong way."
Gattas-Waskow described Birge as a flirt.
Daddio agreed.
"He really loved the women, and sometimes he would say things to them that I just couldn't believe," she said. "I told him, 'Walter, maybe in your age that was OK, but you just can't be doing that now.'"
She said Birge was fun to be around.
"He was very fair, jovial - loved to talk, loved to kid around," she said. "He was very intelligent."
Gattas-Waskow said Birge did not bring his military career into the home, and he was a good father.
"I don't want him to sound stern and militaristic, because that's not how he was," she said. "A lot of people think that because he was in the military, he was the general and we were his little soldiers, but it wasn't like that at all."
Gattas-Waskow said Birge expected his children to do what needed to be done without complaining.
"His thing was always, if it's what you have to do, you just do it," she said.
Martha Birge, Walter's daughter, said he had high expectations of his children.
"You were in fear if you came home with a bad grade," she said. "He wanted all of us to go to college."
Martha said Walter had seven children, 13 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren - with two more on the way.
Birge will get a military funeral today at the Santa Fe National Cemetery.
