Miles Alton, 74, was driven by love of exploration

As shown by his binders and folders full of notes on everything from geology to photography, Miles Alton of Ballard was a man driven by a curiosity about all things.

Mr. Alton, who died May 13 of multiple myeloma at the age of 74, was a lifelong explorer, in both the physical and intellectual senses.

For 30 years, he worked as a marine biologist and administrator at the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration in Seattle.

During his first years as a field researcher in the 1960s, Mr. Alton studied how runoff from the Hanford nuclear reservation impacted shellfish at the mouth of the Columbia River, his wife, Johanne Alton, said.

He investigated the effects volcanic vents on the ocean floor had on sea life off the Washington coast. He even discovered a new species of starfish off the coast of northern Oregon, she said.

Mr. Alton's son Chris Alton, one of the couple's seven children, remembers a father who got excited about everyday places, too.

"We used to go to Green Lake all the time; he was fascinated by the lake and wanted to write a book about it," Chris Alton said. "He was very interested in life. Anything that grabbed his interest, he explored it thoroughly." He also remembers when his father would travel abroad for conferences on international fishing regulations during the 1980s — to places including Moscow, the then-Soviet republic of Georgia, and Japan.

Mr. Alton brought home toy soldiers and hats from the Soviet Union and hand-held electronic games — some of the first ones — from Japan.

Alton, who served in the Navy during the Korean War, was particularly interested in World War I history. After he retired in 1989, he took a bicycle excursion in Europe to visit battle sites, his son said.

Johanne Alton has her own memories of their excursions, including the one that brought them to Seattle in 1962 in a $150 Buick with a huge U-Haul trailer in tow. The young couple, with one child already, moved from Illinois, where they had attended college.

When Mr. Alton, a Chicago native, caught sight of Seattle's steep streets leading up from the waterfront, he gunned the car and drove straight up the hill without stopping at intersections, honking the horn the whole way, his wife said.

"He said, 'We're not gonna stop until we reach the top,' " she recalled.

She also remembers her husband's trips aboard research vessels to places such as the Bering Sea and the waters off Antarctica.

It was Mr. Alton who started her collection of penguin curios, including stuffed animals and a penguin cookie jar, when he brought her a gift from a trip to Tierra del Fuego, an island shared by Chile and Argentina at the southern tip of South America.

"I think his passion was evolution," his wife said. "He felt that most people just didn't understand, they didn't have a grasp of the immensity of time."

"He believed you shouldn't be a follower — you should be an explorer, a seeker of truth," she added.

The Altons also brought the world into their home as hosts of foreign-exchange students, something they did for nine years, she said.

While he traveled widely, his wife said, Mr. Alton remained devoted to home life and never spent more than a month, or sometimes two, away from her and the kids.

"He was man of many interests, but his first interest was the love of his family," she said.

Besides his wife and son Chris, survivors include five other children: Colette Highberger of Lake Forest Park, Gina Brandt of Yakima, Lenai Smith of Mill Creek, Adrienne Alton of Seattle and David Alton of Anchorage. Another son, Aaron Alton, died in 2002. Mr. Alton also had nine grandchildren.

A private memorial service is planned for next month.

Tyrone Beason: 206-464-2251 or tbeason@seattletimes.com