Walter ‘Rudy’ Carlson, age 91, died peacefully at his home on January 4, 2026. 
Rudy was a lifelong skier and Charter Member #3 of the National Ski Patrol’s Certified Program. The program was initiated in 1958 by:
• Harry Pollard, National Ski Patrol (NSP) Representative
• Ray Amiro, American Red Cross
• Ralph Woods, First Aid Instructor, Professional Ski Patrol Association (PSPA)
• George Wesson, NSP/PSPA
• Dexter Galusha, American Red Cross
• Wayne Doss, Springfield College
• Sunny McCawley, Cannon Mountain Ski Area
• Casey Rowley, Stratton Mountain Ski Area
• Rudy Carlson, NSP/PSPA
Rudy was the “last man standing” of this talented group.
In notes he made at one of the group’s earliest meetings, Rudy wrote that they wanted to improve training and professionalism for the “many World War II and Korean corpsmen who wanted to tighten up the NSP system.”
Rudy gained the highest marks in Outdoor Emergency Care, but he loved teaching all aspects of the certified program, especially high- and low-angle rescue.
Rudy served in the U.S. Army, 1952-1954, in Korea where he worked building bridges and organizing his company’s munitions.
Rudy studied culinary arts at the University of Colorado and the University of New Hampshire. He then turned to forestry and operated his own timber management company in Wolfeboro, NH. He patrolled at Waterville Valley, Mount Whittier, and King Pine Ski Area, all in NH.
A Maine guide, Rudy led many hiking and canoeing trips for Camp Kehonka, the oldest American girls’ camp in Wolfeboro. In 1974, he earned a BA in education from Plymouth State College and began his teaching career at Somerset School, Washington, DC. He and his wife Martha (Monty) developed an outdoor studies program for Somerset, bringing students to their farm in Sandwich and to a house in Vinalhaven, Maine. That led to the creation of Five Days of Sandwich, an environmental outdoor day camp for children in Sandwich. It’s still going strong.
In 1989, the Carlsons founded the Sandwich Community School, which became the youngest private school ever to be fully accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. Rudy was beloved by his students and inspired many to go into careers and volunteer work as conservationists, outdoor leaders, medical personnel, and teachers. Mountain rescue, skiing, and safety in outdoor adventures were key to Rudy’s teaching.
Rudy served for many years on the Sandwich Fire Department and the Sandwich Planning Board. He worked with other townspeople to conserve prime wetlands, trails, and timberland in Sandwich. He lived most of his life on Range View Farm where he grew high quality red oak and white pine.
Rudy is survived by his wife Martha, his beloved daughters Claudia Dubit and her son James, Jenny and Brook Hsu, Katie Doyle Smith and her husband Paul Swegel, Marianne O’Loan, two sons Michael Weaver and Bernal Picado, and beloved friends Stein Feick, Lenore Higgins, and Reed Harrigan.
Funeral services for Rudy were held at 11 a.m., Friday, January 16, at the Methodist Meetinghouse, 6 Main St., Center Sandwich.
Tributes to Rudy may be made to the Sandwich Fire Department and to the Quality Care Home Health and Hospice. The family is deeply grateful to both agencies for making it possible for Rudy to spend his final days at home.
