William Walters Jr.

22, 2021.

Bill was born in Charlotte on August 25, 1942, the same birthday as his maternal grandfather.

His father, William D. Walters, Sr., then an enlisted man in the U.S. Navy, was overseas at the

time. Bill and his father did not meet until he was 18 months old; a Charlotte newspaper

commemorated the father and son meeting.

As a child, Bill’s family lived in several states and Guam due to his father’s Navy career. Bill has

many fond memories of living in these areas, and especially of a summer in Maine and living

at the Naval “Shell Plant” and working at a nearby dairy farm.

As a young boy in the 1950s, Bill was in the Charlotte Boys Choir as a soloist and in a quartet.

His specialty was “16 Tons”. Bill remained a country music and later Bluegrass music fan. Bill

and Becky would frequent Bluegrass festivals, inspiring Bill in his mid-60s to take banjo lessons.

Mercifully, Bill abandoned the banjo lessons, but his Uncle’s 4-string banjo remains a prized

possession.

Bill was proud to be in the first graduating class of Garinger High School in 1960. He later

worked on the Reunion Committee, helping to plan many wonderful gatherings and enjoyed

visiting with his Garinger Wildcat classmates.

Bill was an avid reader, and he could not wait for the next Steven King novel. He also enjoyed

reading about World War II history.

Bill’s life-long hobby was stamp and coin collecting, and he amassed many binders of stamps

and coins throughout his more than 40-year stamp collecting hobby. Several years before his

death, Bill “cashed in the collection” by selling to another, highly impressed, collector.

A graduate of UNC Charlotte, Bill was a huge fan of UNC sports and all things football, especially

his beloved Carolina Panthers. A special gift from their mother, Bill and his only brother,

George, were two original PSL Carolina Panther’s season ticket holders and they attended all

the home games that they could. Go Panthers!

Bill‘s professional career was first in the Insurance industry. In the early 1970s, the family

moved to Lake Tranquility, New Jersey, an aptly named beautiful small town community. While

living in Lake Tranquility, Bill was active in the local Methodist Church, and particularly its

annual Lord’s Auction for which Bill and a friend built furniture to be sold at auction.

Another insurance job transfer moved the family of five to Mt. Laurel, New Jersey—a suburb of

Philadelphia. This job transfer and the timing of it allowed the family to celebrate the

Bicentennial by visiting many of the historical sites in the Greater Philadelphia area.

Never one to pass up an opportunity to see the country and grow in his career to support his

family, in the late 1970s, Bill and the family were off to Minnesota. Bill traded in his motorcycle

and bribed the kids with a snowmobile Christmas gift. The family spent three winters and three

road repair seasons in Minnesota. (Ask a Minnesotan to explain).

After Minnesota, it was back to New Jersey, for another big promotion at the Philadelphia

home office. In the early 1980, Bill was transferred to Redmond, Washington (a Seattle suburb)

where Bill, Becky, and son Patrick lived until 1992, and sons Bill and Mark visited.

In 1992, and with some reservations, Bill and Becky moved to Huntington Bay, Long Island, New

York. This was the straw that broke this North Carolina couple’s back, and they returned to

Charlotte in 1996, to be close to family, and provide support for their aging mothers.

Everywhere the family lived, Bill and Becky planned road-trip after road-trip to see the sights

and National Parks. The family piled into the Oldsmobile and away they went to explore the

area.

Around 1979, Bill and Becky took the family on a two-week road-trip from Minnesota to

Colorado, to Arizona, to Wyoming and then back to Minnesota via South Dakota. During this

trip, the family visited the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone National Park, Four Corners, the Bad

Lands, and Mount Rushmore. A big fan of the sci-fi movie, Close Encounters, but without

disclosing the target destination, Bill drove the family (for hours) to Devil’s Tower, Wyoming,

resisting the urge to reveal the target destination over countless pleadings from the boys, “are

we there yet?”, where are we going?”. The family spent the day at Devil’s Tower and this epic

road trip remains one of the family’s fondest memories.

After returning to Charlotte, Bill worked in the Charlotte Housing Authority in internal audit and

Director of Section 8 Housing. He retired in 2017 so he could spend more time with Becky, and

focus on his beloved Panthers. Go Panthers!

In retirement, ever the Wanderlust couple, Bill and Becky, traveled throughout the South and to

Branson, Missouri, to name a few. They also traveled overseas, taking Eastern and Western

Mediterranean cruises, an unforgettable trip to Israel with their Weddington United Methodist

Church family. To celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary, Bill and Becky and the entire

Walters Family, took a memorable cruise to Alaska.

Bill is preceded in death by his parents, Rosemond and William Durward Walters, Sr., and his

son, William D. Walters III, who also lived in Charlotte. Bill is survived by his wife of 61 years,

Becky, his sons Mark (married to Laurie Cansler) and Patrick (married to Dawn Rodney), who

live in the Seattle, Washington area, four grandchildren, his Panther fan brother, George, his

wife Juline, two nephews and their families and a host of cousins on both the Barnett and

Walters side’s of the family.

Memorial Service to be held on, Thursday, August 26, 2021, at 10am. Weddington United

Methodist Church, 13901 Providence Road, Weddington, NC 28104. Reception to follow at

Helm’s Hall after the service. To protect attendees, the family requests that COVID precautions

be taken, please wear a mask.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Parkinson Association of the Carolinas

(https://www.parkinsonassociation.org) or Weddington United Methodist Church

(https://www.weddingtonchurch.org).