Walt Guest, 71, CDC manager, family wordsmith

Years ago, Walt Guest entered a singing competition for passengers while on a cruise ship vacation.

He sang one of his favorite songs — “My Way” — and won second place.

Enlarge this image

Family photo

Walt Guest worked for the CDC for 34 years.

“He always said he should have won,” said Olivia Guest, his wife of 47 years. “They gave him a certificate and a statue of a ship.”

When it came to the arts, writing and reciting poetry and belting out tunes topped Mr. Guest’s list. He performed “My Way” at family and work gatherings.

A classical music lover, he named a family dog “Sebastian.”

He wrote and self-published a book of poems — “Becoming and Going and Things Between” — for his children and grandchildren.

One of the poems — “Bonding” — was dedicated to his late grandmother. Part of it reads:

“The sweetness of our mother’s souls … weds the new into the old

The cosmic glue of eternity bonds us to the souls of God.”

“He published it just for the family because he wanted his children and grandchildren to know more about life itself,” his wife said. “Each child has a copy. He dedicated the book to me.”

James Walter “Walt” Guest Jr., 71, of Atlanta died Friday of a heart attack at his home in College Park. A memorial service will be 11 a.m. Thursday at St. Paul of the Cross Catholic Church in Atlanta. Murray Brothers Cascade Chapel is in charge of arrangements.

He was born in Hickory, N.C., and raised by his grandparents in Greensboro, N.C. He majored in biology and microbiology at North Carolina A&T State University.

In 1959, he started work in a lab for the Centers for Disease Control in Chapel Hill, N.C. Three years later the agency transferred him to Atlanta, where he held various management and research-related positions. He retired in 1993 as assistant deputy chief of biological products.

Mr. Guest was also a wordsmith, said his daughter, Sharon Guest of Fairburn.

“There was never any word I asked my dad about and he didn’t know the definition,” she said. “He always knew, and he could spell anything. He read, sang, wrote poetry and was a great cook. He was a Renaissance man.”

In Greensboro, Olivia and Walt Guest grew up in the same neighborhood and attended the same Catholic church. Both were engaged to someone else when they decided to hold off and date one another for a while, his wife said.

“We dated three months,” she said, “and the next thing I knew, I’d given my ring back to my boyfriend and he broke up with his girlfriend. I had to have him. He was a very elegant man and a fine gentleman. I’d always liked him.”

Additional survivors include two sons, Bryan Guest of Atlanta and Anthony Morrow Sr. of Greensboro; a sister, Mary Ann Coleman of Greensboro; a brother, Kenneth Guest of Maryland; six grandchildren; and a great-granddaughter.