On November 11, 2007, Allan T Slatt, recently of Cary, NC, departed this life to rejoin his beloved wife, Louise. At her death in 2002, they had been married 60 years. Mr. Slatt was 92 years.
The only child of Gustav and Anna Nielsen Slatt, recent arrivals from Sweden, Mr. Slatt was born in 1915 and raised on the south side of Chicago. After graduation from the local technical high school, he joined the 1st Cavalry, the last horse-mounted regiment in the U.S. Army. Ever a lover of ships and the sea, he spent World War II as a merchant mariner delivering supplies around the world. During this time, he met and persuaded Louise Foldesh to elope with him to New York City where they were married in 1942. For the remainder of the war years, she kept a bag packed and ready to meet him whenever he wired that his ship had come to port on the East Coast.
After the war, Mr. Slatt attended Purdue University and graduated in mechanical engineering. He pursued a long career in marine engineering that took him and his family back and forth across the United States, with stays in the port cities of Seattle, Charleston and Houston. He ultimately retired from the U.S. Coast Guard in Washington DC. after many years as a national expert on pressure vessels and welding standards. He and his wife retired to their previous home in Pasadena, Tex.
Mr. Slatt was a Master Mason of West Lafayette Lodge No. 724 and he received his 50 Year Certificate in 2002. He was also a 32nd Degree in the Scottish Right.
In retirement, he pursued his interests in the Coast Guard Auxiliary, firearms and bridge. Mr. Slatt was a perennial student in the USCGA classes, usually the eldest in the room. He continued his interest in marksmanship even after health issues caused him and Louise to relocate to North Carolina nearer family. He became well known in the Wake County Firearms Range. His interests in engineering and history remained with him throughout his life.
He will be forever missed by his three daughters, Pamela Slatt Fagelson, Deborah Slatt Gugel, Lisa Slatt and son-in-law Alan Spanos; his two granddaughters Alexandra Fagelson and Mia Slatt Faber, and his two great-grandchildren. His close family also included his dear sister-in-law Dolores (Mrs. Jack) Fuller of Pasadena Tex., her children and grandchildren and many nephews and nieces from his wife’s family.
Arrangements by the Cremation Society of the Carolinas. Online condolences @www.cremnc.com.