Walter Edward Mellgren was born on 24 Apr 1894 in San Francisco Township, Carver County, Minnesota as the ninth child of John L. Mellgren and Britta Stina Anderson. He had eleven siblings, namely: Anna Charlotte, Algot Levin, Gerhard Vitalis, Anna Victoria, Lydia Eleonora, Florence Eleanor, Theodore Nathanael, Adolph Anskarius, Esther Emelia, Gilbert George, and Clarence Filmore. He died on 12 Feb 1981 in Nightingale Nursing Home.

 Walter Edward Mellgren was buried on 16 Feb 1981 in West Union Cemetery.