PETER JOSEPH WALSH Jan. 19, 1949 – Aug. 31, 2025
Peter Joseph Walsh, succumbed to an extremely rare form of melanoma cancer in the early morning of August 31, 2025 surrounded by loving family.
He was born January 19, 1949 to Dr. Richard A. Walsh and Mary E. Walsh (nee Davis), deceased. The second of thirteen children, he was born at King’s County Hospital in Brooklyn, NY.
The family moved to Letterman Army Base when his father returned from the Korean Conflict for a Residency in Orthopedic Surgery. Then a residency in General Surgery took the family to Fort Knox, KY for a few years.
Peter completed first grade in KY. Leaving the Army in 1956 the family moved to Silver City, Grant County, NM. Peter attended St. Mary’s Academy for the remainder of grade school. After eight grade he attended Jesuit High School in El Paso Texas until graduation in 1967. There he lived with his maternal Grandparents, Larry and Betty Davis with having his own bedroom as the primary driver. He graduated in the Top 5 of his class.
He attended a few colleges in his 10 yr post high school education cycle. He attended the University of San Francisco starting in the fall of 1967, returning for the spring semester, but returning home and enrolling at New Mexico Western for the spring. Fall of 1968 he entered St. John’s College in the Great Books program. He completed his sophomore year and decided to take a work/life break before returning to school for a science or engineering degree.
Peter, as a youth, enjoyed the mule pack trips his family did after school was out for the summer. Along with some of his brothers he learned packing skills on two-week trips into the Gila Wilderness his father led. From fourth grade on he also was a participant in many mountain lion hunts with his father and local ranchers, continuing this into his early twenties. After St John’s he did his “cowboy” thing for Pacific Western Land and Cattle for two years. Then he went to work for Brown and Root Heavy Construction on the Phelps Dodge Tyrone Mill Expansion where after being a concrete carpenter he learned to be an instrument fitter and pipe fitter.
Peter married, had two sons by marriage and 3 daughters with Sunnie Jo-Ann Stone. In 1976 Peter entered a 2yr technology degree program at UNM Los Alamos, NM after working as a Process Control Instrument Fitter for Brown & Root Heavy Construction on the Playa/Hidalgo Copper Smelter Project. When the job ended in winter of ‘75/76 he moved the family to Espanola, NM and entered the IET program. Intending to return to construction after graduation, he decided to stay at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory and pursue a career there for the stability of his family as a subcontractor to the Lab, working for Missouri Research Labs (MRL).
In the fall of 1978, he was offered a full-time tech position in J-14. He stayed in the weapons community for all but the last two years of his career, moving at that time to ISR-2 for the NCAM low light detection project. Peter specialized in diagnostic development for a variety of projects over his career, from solid state devices, crystal spectrometers, to ultra-fast x-ray framing cameras. His work took him to the NOVA Laser Facility at LLNL, pulse power facilities at Sandia National Lab, the Laboratory for Laser Energetics at the University of Rochester, NY, and a brief time at NIF, LLNL. His work in ISR2 helped produce 1 of 2 options for a single photon imaging tube.
Peter separated from his children’s mother after 13 years of marriage. He found the sport of his life in rock climbing, joining the Los Alamos Mountaineers and having a 20+ year climbing experience. An early climbing visit to Yosemite sealed the deal. He climbed all over the west and loved easy routes as well as difficult ones.
Then he found the love of his life, Diane Roussel-Dupre. She is still that love 35 years later. Definitely the best thing that ever happened to him.
Retiring in 2007 he went off to another career helping family and friends to accomplish major house remodels or to consult or mentor, based on his experience as a youth in residential construction. He also worked on several Habitat for Humanity houses in Española. After years of that he did a major remodel to their Los Alamos home at the time that Diane retired from LANL in 2014 to take her dream job working for The Aerospace Corporation, in Albuquerque.
In addition to traveling in the States, together, they traveled through India during his daughter’s wedding as well as several trips to the British Islands exploring the back ways and ancient monuments. They purchased a just-for-two travel trailer during COVID for many wonderful adventures. They enjoyed kayaking their way up into the Pacific Northwest for touring wineries and exploring the Pacific coast. They also had spent years in the Utah back country exploring and pursuing Diane’s avocation of rock art studies. Wonderful times that were much cherished.
Peter is survived by Sunnie Jo-Ann Stone (first wife), Diane Roussel-Dupre (love of his life), his 3 daughters, Meara Allena, Jeanne-Marie and Erin, his two stepsons, Andrew and Eli Sandford, 7 grandkids and 12 Walsh siblings and extended family.
We thank you all for your outpouring of love for Peter and the family. A Celebration of Life service is still in the planning stages and will be announced at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to your favorite environmental or wildlife charity to share the love.
May his memory reside in your hearts.