Walter Howard Dukes

Walter Howard Dukes, known to many as Butch, Butchie or Skip, age 68, passed peacefully in his home surrounded by loved ones in Grapevine, Texas on March 11, 2016. He was born March 24, 1947 in Santurce, Puerto Rico to Walter and Anna Dukes. He was an active teenager who sang opera and enjoyed life. After graduating from high school, he went on to college at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, IA majoring in Architecture. He was soon drafted and courageously served in the Army with distinction as a combat veteran of the Vietnam War and earned numerous military awards and commendations which include The Bronze Star (with oak leaf cluster) and Purple Heart (with oak leaf cluster) medals. After the Vietnam War he moved to Australia, where he met the love of his life, his soul mate, Sally Anne Williams, whom he could not stop talking about and couldn’t wait to be joined in marriage. They were wed on December 11, 1972 and have been married for 43 years. “We are one, and will always will be one” was a phrase he would often say to the woman he loved with all of his heart. Soon after marriage they moved to Puerto Rico and had two children, David and Michele, moved back to Australia, then to Grapevine, Texas in 1984. He served his beloved country in the Army, the National Guard and the Army Reserves and achieved rank of Major. In his civilian life he worked in international reservations for American Airlines. Walter enjoyed any form of travel and anything to do with travel especially cruising. He even climbed to Machu Picchu in Peru with one prosthetic leg. Walter will always be remembered as loving, caring, devoted, hard working, distinguished, a man of great integrity, hilarious with his dry sense of humor and as a proud American. Walter was preceded in death by his grandparents Carlos and Mercedes Morales, his Aunt Maria Socorro (Totoyo), his father Walter Dukes and his brother Charles Dukes. He will be remembered with love by his wife Sally, his children W. David Dukes and his wife Erica Dukes, Michele (Dukes) Wylde and her husband Justin Wylde, his grandchildren, Preston(15)and Kyleigh(11) Dukes and Annaliesa(3) and Mirabelle(1) Wylde, his mother Anna Mercedes Morales-Martinez and his siblings Carol Swendsen and her husband Alden (Eldy) Swendsen, Steve and his wife Melissa Dukes, Jeannie Dukes-Farlow, Marjorie Castle and her husband Don Castle, Robert Beyer, Tracy Lewis and her husband Dan Lewis, sister in-laws Dianne Williams, Susan Gilles, brother in-laws Jim Williams and Ray Williams, his Uncle Carlos (Cay) Morales, his best friend Colonel Dr. Robert T. Frame, along with cousins, many friends and all their families. Visitation will be from 6-8 PM Wednesday, March 16, 2016 at Foust & Son Funeral Home 523 S Main St., Grapevine, TX 76051, Funeral Service will be from 10-11 AM on Thursday, March 17, 2016 at Foust & Son Funeral Home. Graveside Service will be 1:30 PM on Thursday, March 17, 2016 at Dallas/Fort Worth National Cemetery, 2000 Mountain Creek Parkway, Dallas, TX, 75211. Memorials can be made in the name of Walter Howard Dukes to Disabled America Veterans www.DAV.org/Donate.