OBITUARIES - June 18, 1988

Evelyn Seide Walter; Aide to Helen Keller

Evelyn D. Seide Walter, 88, personal secretary and companion to Helen Keller for 37 years. Mrs. Walter was 20 when she went to work as a secretary at the American Foundation for the Blind in New York. She met Miss Keller there a short time later and became secretary for the blind and deaf woman who conquered her physical limitations to become an author, educator and a champion of the handicapped. After the 1960 death of Miss Keller’s longtime companion Polly Thomson, Mrs. Walter became her constant companion, running the Keller home in Westport, Conn., and managing the finances until Miss Keller’s death in 1968. For many years, Mrs. Walter traveled with Miss Keller on lecture tours, helped her write books and handled much of her letter writing. In Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., on Thursday.