Walt Melander of NEI Died
 

Just returned from the Cast Bullet List and am learned there that Mr. Melander died of a heart attack on 10/3/02.

I'm saddened by the news. I have several NEI molds and they are of the very highest quality. He will be missed.

I have a neat memory of Walt Melander. It must have been more than 20 years ago, I took a parts Luger to Walt, then located in northeast El Paso, to do some TIG welding. I had cut down the frame to make a "baby", and Walt gave it a go. I hadn't made up a jig to hold the pieces together, so Walt used my old junk magazine to align the parts. He did a wonderful job of welding and I took it home to finish the job. Well, the penetration of the weld on the front grip frame included the magazine! Took me quite a while to free up the magazine (in pieces) and hog out the "stuck" parts from the front grip strap. I still haven't finished that baby (it is a long frame and I haven't gotten around to getting a barrel made) but I have fun remembering the event every time I look at it. I am saddened by his passing.