Biography
In February of 1913, Wallace Henry Coulter was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, the son of a kindergarten teacher and train dispatcher. Just 50 years after the Battle of Gettysburg, 1913 America marked the inception of the postal service and the Federal Income Tax. He was a rural, middle class, middle-America kid, whose parents influenced him with education, patriotism, frugality, books, travel, plants, gardening, and a sense of adventure. Coulter entered the technology and medical revolution, and was destined to be as important a figure as he was inconspicuous. History remembers Marconi and Edison, Einstein and Ford. Coulter’s name could and should be wedged in the middle of these. His gift to the world was described once, “like the wheel. One simply cannot imagine living without it.” Wallace Coulter changed the world in ways large and small. He opened the world to a different way of thinking, a different way of acting and a different way of operating. Coulter dreamed the American Dream, walked the American Journey, and fulfilled a life of wonder and amazement, leaving mankind richer and healthier and this world a better and safer place.
Early Life & Education
At 2 AM, on February 17, 1913 in Little Rock, Arkansas, Minnie Mae Johnson Coulter gave birth to an 8lb 8oz baby boy. Presidents Gerald Ford and Richard Nixon were born that same year, so were football coaching legends Vince Lombardi and Bear Bryant along with entertainers Red Skelton and Burt Lancaster. Wallace always had an inquisitive mind. At age three, he was fascinated with numbers and gadgets. When offered a bicycle for his eleventh birthday, he asked instead for his first radio kit. Wallace spent his adolescent years in McGehee, Arkansas, a small town near Little Rock.
Graduating early from high school at age 16, Wallace left home to attend Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. With a keen interest in electronics, he transferred to the Georgia Institute of Technology for his second and third years of study. This was the early 1930’s, and due to the Great Depression, Wallace left Ga Tech to complete his education at Hendrix College in Conway, AR.
Early Career
Wallace’s interest in electronics manifested itself in a variety of unconventional jobs. He worked for WNDR in Memphis, TN filling in as a radio announcer, maintaining the equipment and conducting some of the earliest experiments on mobile communications. In 1935, he joined General Electric X-Ray as a sales and service engineer in the Chicago area servicing medical equipment. This work familiarized Wallace with the testing procedures in the hospital laboratory.
Wallace's Far East Adventures
While working as a sales and service engineer for General Electric X-ray, the opportunity to cover the Far East became available, this young man from Arkansas seized the chance to live and work abroad.
Far East Timeline
Six Months in Shanghai
After six months in Manila, Wallace was asked to make sales and service calls in the more remote regions of the territory. He traveled to Hong Kong, Macao, Canton, finally settling in Shanghai for six months. He became fascinated with Chinese history, art and culture. He admired the jade carvings of all colors, shapes and sizes, but mostly loved figurines of people and animals. He maintained this interest in Chinese art throughout his life. He began collecting jade and his collection was seen covering every surface in his office; he never tired of sharing their beauty.
Six Months in the Philippines
Wallace first went to the Philippines, where the local GE Office was manned by technicians from many countries. He admired the lush landscape and varied tropical fruits. In his free time, he visited the open air markets. This experience fostered his love of tropical fruits. Later in life, he maintained a tropical fruit farm with lychee, longan, carambola and more than 20 varieties of mangoes.
Expatriation
The practice of employing expatriates by US companies was not commonplace before World War II. During the next twenty-four months, Wallace was based in three areas servicing the entire Far East; Manila, Shanghai and Singapore. He wrote many letters home to his parents, detailing his adventures and his love of the tropical climate, the food and the cultures.