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| Burial: Myrtle Hill Cem., Tampa, Hillsborough Co., FL |
| Baptism: 8 Mar 1889 Decatur, Adams Co., IN 2 |
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Individual:
He was known as "Wally" to family and friends. Though he was born in
Adams Co., IN, he knew only Beardstown, IL (where he moved with hisfamily in July 1891) as his home town. His early schooling was in theLutheran parochial school in Beardstown. His family spoke German intheir home. When he started to school he was teased because he couldnot speak English. This created an incentive to learn Englishquickly. After finishing grade schools in Beardstown, he spent twoyears studying at Concordia College in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. He was just14 years old in 1903 when he entered the Lutheran college. It was inFt. Wayne that he played semi-pro baseball for a time. A bout withrheumatic fever left him deformed toes on one foot, ending any furtherbaseball..
In 1911, he followed his family to North Carolina where he got a job selling Bibles. This required riding through the mountains onhorseback looking for customers. He was almost lynched by moonshinerson one occasion when he was mistaken for a "revenoor." He enlisted inthe army in 1917 when the U.S. was going to war in Europe in WWI. Hiscrippled foot caused an early discharge. He spent the duration of thewar as a civilian paymaster in Philadelphia. He moved to Florida in1919, first working as a guard in the phosphate mines at Ft. Pierce.He moved to Tampa in 1921 and became a bookkeeper for O'Berry and HallCo., a wholesale grocery company. In 1924 he contracted tuberculosisand pent 9 months in bed being nursed back to health by his mother.
One of the girls in the O'Berry office was Clemmie Croft. After a long courtship, prolonged by his illness, they were married in secret.An office policy prevented husband and wife from working together sothey kept their marriage a secret. After a time it became impossibleto keep it secret and they both resigned, leaving Tampa to try theirhand in a business in Orlando. They purchased a small grocery storeand filling station in an Orlando suburb called Jamajo. This was inthe height of the Great Depression and no one in the neighborhood hadmoney. The business failed, but they made many lasting friendshipsthere.
It was in an upstairs apartment at that Jamajo store that their son, Walter, Jr., was born. When the business failed in 1933, they movedto a small rental house in Jamajo on the corner of Jamajo Blvd. andRoush Street. With economic times as they were, he was unable tofind a job, and after two tough years, he went back to his old boss inTampa an asked for his old job back at O'Berry & Hall. He retiredfrom O'Berry's in 1952 and was then able to live more leasurely. Hewas active in the St.Paul Lutheran church in Tampa, holding severalpositions of leadership there. In 1963 the State of Florida purchasedhis home place to make room for the new Interstate highway system.Using those funds, they built a new home in Brandon, Florida where helived until his death.
His Social Security Number - 265-05-0951
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- Title: Walther Library, Concordia College, Ft.Wayne, IN
Page: On 7 Aug 1998 I visited this library, asking if there was a way to
look up the enrollment of my father. They had just received some oldbooks from a private party that included the enrollment record I waslooking for. Found his name on page 157 in the list showing that hehad enrolled in the fall semester of 1903. He was in the fifth levelof instruction which meant that he had completed high school coursesand was enrolling for college level instruction.
- Title: Church Record - St.Peter Ev.Luth.Ch. - Adams
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