I first met Bert in 7th grade at Nathan Eckstein Jr. High,
and we immediately became best friends all 
through High School. We both had Model "T" Ford cars 
in the 7th grade, and we drove them all around
 our neighborhoods.  Bert's father, Albert Balch, was a
prominent builder, and owned a lot of property
 (a former Navy housing project) in the View Ridge area,
 and we kept our cars there.
Bert and I ended up owning and driving and buying and
 selling a lot of old cars during high school when old cars
 were not "cool" and girls did not like them.  Sometime after
 High School, Bert opened up a locksmith business in the
 Wedgewood area (he was always good at picking 
locks in High School).
 He was also interested in electronics, and bought one
 of the first computers that I had ever seen.  Bert had 
never married, but lived with a girl friend in the 
north end of Seattle for many years.
 During college, I opened up an auto parts business 
on Roosevelt Way and then in Woodinville, and Bert
 would come by occasionally and we would keep in touch.

Bert lived up on the hill and we used to walk home from school together sometimes. He tried so hard, and I liked him a lot because he tried. I was very happy to see him at the last reunion. There he was, enjoying life! But now he has passed away ... All of us who knew and liked Bert will miss him very much.