Monterey Peninsula Herald, Feb. 20, 1981 p2
Monterey CA

Valley Man Dies in Tahoe Plane Crash

Walter Theodore Lake, former general manager of the Monterey County
Employees Association, was killed Thursday in a plane crash in
Martis Valley, south of Truckee. He was 54. The pilot of the plane,
42-year-old David Paul Sorenson of Gilroy, was also killed in the
crash. The plane, which had taken off earlier in the day from Gilroy,
was headed for the Sierra on a Rotary Cub ski outing, according to the
Nevada County Sheriff's Office. A spokesman for the Federal Aviation
Administration said the plane, a Cessna 182, crashed near the runway of
the Tahoe-Truckee Airport shortly befor 10 a.m. The spokesman added that
winds in the area were gusty at the time but the cause of the crash has
not been determined. Lake was born Aug. 20, 1926, in Trenton, N.J., and
had been a resident of the Monterey Peninsula for 14 years, resideing on
Glen Place in Carmel Valley. He resigned as head of the county employee
group last May, after serving in that capacity for 14 years, to become
executive director of the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce. He was a veteran
of World War II and a 1946 graduate of the University of California at
Santa Barbara. He was a member of the Gilroy Rotary Club. He is survived
by his wife, Joyce; daughters Cathy of Seattle and Kerry of Fresno,
and parents, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Lake of Los Angeles. Memorial services
will be held Monday at 11 a.m. at St. John's Chapel, Monterey, with the
Rev. Thomas Hurley officiating. Farlinger Funeral Home is in charge of
arrangements. The family suggests that memorial contributions be sent
to the Gilroy Rotary Club, or to the Monterey County SPCA, Monterey.