Walter James Anderson

Walter was the "brainy" one in the family. He was born in 1952. He was 6 years old when my mother went to work. Much of his childhood was unsupervised, but he had some great friends that he played with a lot. Walter loved baseball. He told me one of his high school coaches told him, "Walter, you are going to go a long ways." That kind of encouragement did a lot for Walter. Sadly, his home life was very poor. There were conflicts with his older brother that could not be overcome. It affected Walter a lot deeper than anyone knew.

Walter was a patriotic person, very morally fit, and had high standards. He never used profanity in his speech. He got that from his dad. My dad did not cuss or swear either.

Walter suffered from paranoid scizophrania all his adult life. He loved smoking and would not quit. He received very good care at the Wallowa River House, which was a 24/7 fully-staffed living facility for people with disabilities. The medications given to Walter helped him a great deal. He made a lot of friends in both Wallowa and Enterprise, OR. He told me one time that he LOVED it there in Wallowa and wanted to live there until he died. He did that.

I was informed he had cancer on a Sunday, March 5, 2017. I headed out to drive to see him. The trip was going to take a full 4 days. Sadly, the night before I reached my destination (3/10), I received a phone call at 12:30 am. The staff told me that Walter had passed away.

He was very much looking forward to my visit. The silver lining was that Walter knew I was coming very soon, and he was very excited. He had been treated to a great lunch that day. I believe the Lord was merciful to my younger brother, Walter, as lung cancer is a dreadful and painful disease. I've heard of others who suffered for a long time horribly. Therefore, Walter was spared that. I'm very grateful to God for that. He left this world looking forward and being excited about my visit. However, I know that he met our Lord and Savior that night. God bless Walter.

Lastly, the one person in Walter's life that was very beneficial was our neighbor, Hazel Nadin. She took Walter to church as a young boy. Walter was saved when he was 17 years old. Thank God for Hazel's influence on Walter. She was so very good to him.