 Eventually, he became a United States citizen in 1945.In 1941, they moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where Walter opened a business selling Belgian light bulbs for a Western Extralite branch.He kept the business as it grew over time, even after his retirement in 1989, at which time he still remained chairman of the board, but then eventually sold the company in 1999 to the family of his original business partner in 1941.