Walter T. Gentry

Funeral services for Walter T. Gentry, 87, of Temple will be 11:00 am Monday, June 4, 2012 at Canyon Creek Baptist Church, 4306 S. 31st St. in Temple. Rev. Ronnie Hood will officiate. Burial with full military honors will follow at 2:00 pm in the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery in Killeen.

Mr. Gentry died Wednesday, May 30, 2012 at his home in Temple.

Walter was born in Pacolet Mills, South Carolina on October 3, 1924 to Charlie and Myrtle (Valentine) Gentry. He married Elsie Banks on December 2, 1949 in Spartanburg, SC.

TSGT Gentry retired from the United States Air Force after serving more than twenty years. He was a prisoner of war during WWII after his plane was shot down over Poland in 1944 and also a Purple Heart recipient.

Walter then worked with General Dynamics as a Maintenance Document Analyst of Ft. Worth for 20 years.

He was preceded in death by his parents; three sisters; a brother; a son, Walter Jr.; a great granddaughter; great grandson; and on December 13, 2006, his beloved wife, Elsie.

Left to cherish his memory are two daughters and sons in law, Janice and H.K. Ballard of Temple and Vickie and Bill Mullins of San Antonio; a brother and his wife, Otis Scott and Nettie Gentry of Pacolet Mills, SC; a sister in law and her husband, Nora and Glenn Liles and a brother in law and his wife, Ed and Peggy Banks, all of Spartanburg, SC; eight grandchildren; eleven great grandchildren and one great-great grandchild.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Canyon Creek Building Fund, 4306 S. 31st St, Temple, TX 76502 or to the Wounded Warrior Project, PO Box 758517, Topeka, KS 66675.

A time of visitation will be Sunday afternoon from 3 to 5 pm at Crawford-Bowers Funeral Home, 3220 S. 31st St., Temple, TX 76502.

Words of comfort may be made to the family at www.crawfordbowerstemple.com.