More Coverage :: Wally’s was a pillar of Des Moines, a marina town of 30,000 whose popularity among retirees made it more conservative than Seattle, 15 miles north. Locals came to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries. Tourists came for fresh Northwest salmon and Dungeness crab. Advertisement Greeting customers at the door was Mike Nordean, who had dedicated his life to the restaurant business. He got his start in high school busing tables at a local DoubleTree Inn, quickly working his way up to bartender and catering manager. He was fresh out of college in 1979 when his first wife died in ...