Walter Carrington, 66, director of the Chicago Department of Health`s sickle cell anemia program from 1971 until his retirement two months ago, was also former head of the department`s school physical efforts and its lead poisoning program.
He died Monday in his South Shore home.
”He was very caring,” Barbara Cooper, a co-worker, said. ”He tried to help everyone who ever came into his presence. He was a wonderful man.”
Mr. Carrington served in the Marines in World War II as a gunnery sergeant in the South Pacific.
He joined the Board of Health in 1956 as a field investigator in the venereal disease division.
”Walt was very good at running an office,” Cooper said. ”He ran the office as though it were the Marines. He himself never took a sick day in 20 years. When he then became sick, he had the time he needed. He worried about the program and tried to make it a better one every year.”
Survivors include his wife, Dorothy; his mother, Gertrude; a sister; and a brother.
Visitation will be at 1:30 p.m. Thursday in the Barker Mortuary, 9900 S. Throop St. Services will be there at 2 p.m.
