Walter had a profound mystical experience when he was a child that guided him for the rest of his life. He encountered the Divine who said to him: everything will be alright – everything.
He told me this experience was at the core of his being. From then on, he was filled with gratitude and lost his fear of death. He had a deep faith in the Love of the Divine, which grounded his life. He knew his purpose in life was to be of service to others, and he spent much of his life dedicated to that service, for the pure joy of it. Walter was a very generous man who had a lot of energy. He lived full-out every day, using all of his skills and love of learning to give of himself to others. He was very dedicated to his purpose and never stopped trying, never stopped growing. He was a very intelligent man. Integrity and honesty were important values to him. Because of these traits, he was a gifted teacher who taught at several places during his lifetime. He became a full professor at Texas State University. At his memorial, the chair of his department said Walter was the best teacher the department had ever had. Students loved him; the other professors trusted him. He also taught many classes and seminars in Latin America where he had a large following. He became fluent in Spanish and could read, write and speak it skillfully.
More personally, he was a warm, friendly man who was very extroverted, loved being around people. Even so, he was faithful and steadfast in his love for me and for our marriage. He made wise decisions all of his life, helping me to raise my two children from a previous marriage. I was his only wife, and we were married for 37 wonderful years. My favorite attribute of his was his persistence. If he made a commitment, he would keep it. If things got hard in our lives, he would step up and work hard to get us through it. He was intensely practical about managing our challenges well, always staying grounded at his core. People sometimes described him as a workaholic, but I am not sure he really was. He had a profound love of beauty and that love came through in his hobbies. He spent many hours creating beauty in our yard, planting, landscaping and arranging native flowers for the birds and butterflies. He was an avid photographer who spent many hours taking photographs and editing them to be perfect to his eyes. He collected Japanese woodblock prints for their beauty. We traveled quite a bit for the love of nature’s beauty.
He had a beautiful soul. May he rest in Divine Love.
–Daphne, his wife