Walter Whitley Diggs

Walter was born in Memphis, TN, on June 8, 1932, to Dr. Lemuel Whitley and Beatrice Moshier Diggs. As a star athlete, he was scouted to play pro baseball but chose college. He graduated from Washington and Lee University in 1954 with a BS in Commerce and Industrial Management. The Track and Cross Country Team Captain, Walter excelled at pole vaulting at W&L and still holds the record on a wooden pole (13’3”). He was a three-time Southern Conference champ and athlete of the year in ‘54. Walter received a Masters in Hospital Management from the University of Minnesota in 1956 and went on to build a lifelong career in hospital administration. In his early career, he served as Lieutenant Administrative Officer at Chelsea U.S, Naval hospital in Boston, where he met his wife of 63 years, Ann Thobae (later Diggs) from Falmouth, MA.

Walter and Ann were married in 1958 on Cape Cod at the Unitarian Church in Barnstable. Soon after, Walter accepted an appointment at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore as Assistant Director of the Wilmer Ophthalmological Institute. It was during this time their three children were born. The family relocated in 1966, and Walter worked as the Administrator of the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta. In 1972 the family moved to Memphis, TN, where Walter had several roles, including Assistant Dean at the College of Community and Allied Health Professions and was an appointed administrator for the Memphis Mental Health Institute.

He also worked for over 17 years as a surveyor for the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals. During his time in Memphis, he served on several boards: NAMI Memphis, Case Management Inc., Lowenstein House, Ballet Memphis, The Delta Foundation, and the Cocaine and Alcohol Awareness Program, Inc., (CAAP) a board he served on through the final months of his life.

In 2007, Ann and Walter retired to Cape Cod, where he served as a member of the Conservation Commission in Harwich and as President of the Board of the Unitarian Universalist Meeting House of Chatham. One of his favorite jobs with the Meeting House was float-driver for the All Worn-out Jug Band in the 4th of July parade.

Throughout his life, he played baseball and enjoyed track and field “masters” competitions well into his 70s. Walter lived a very active, generous, and accomplished life dedicated to his family and community service, and he was a Tennessee farm boy at heart. He’d rather be out bailing hay or eating roasting ears any day. Walter loved nothing better than leading trips white water canoeing on the Middle Fork of the Little Red River, in Arkansas, for the Memphis Bluff City Canoe Club.

Walter is survived by his children: Jennie Makihara of Harwich, Tom Diggs of San Francisco, CA, Andrew Diggs and his wife Kate Rollenhagen-Diggs of Brewster; his two sisters, Alice Sullivan in South Carolina and Peggy Simons in Pennsylvania and several nieces and nephews.

A celebration of Walter’s life is planned for Saturday, April 30th at 1 pm (EST) at The Unitarian Universalist Meeting House in Chatham. For information about hybrid Zoom participation contact [email protected]. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Walter’s memory to CAAP. Please go to www.caapincorporated.com for information.