Walter Zivley

Walter Perry Zivley was called home by his Lord and Savior and reunited with his beloved wife of sixty years on the 2nd of April 2015. He was born the 5th of August 1931 in Mineral Wells, Texas to Walter and Jane Zivley and graduated from Lamar High School in 1949. He attended Southern Methodist University receiving a BBA in 1953 and graduated from SMU School of Law in 1955 to become a fifth generation lawyer. While at SMU he met the love of his life, Nancy Claire Campbell. They married on the 6th of February 1954 and moved to Houston in 1955, where they laid the foundation for their incredible life together and where Walter began his sixty year legal career.

Walter was a named partner in Liddell Sapp Zivley Hill & LaBoon, predecessor firm to Locke Lord Bissell, where he was practicing at the time of his death. He was revered in his law firm, the Houston legal community and throughout the state not only for his leadership in the bar and community activities but also as an exceptional and beloved role model for hundreds of young lawyers. Walter received the 50-Year Service Award from the Houston Bar Association, the Distinguished Texas Probate and Trust Attorney Lifetime Achievement Award from the Real Estate, Probate and Trust Law Section of the State Bar of Texas and the Distinguished Service Award from the Probate, Trusts and Estates Section of the Houston Bar Association. Also, Walter received the Garland R. Walker American Inn of Court Professionalism Award.

Walter was a founding director of the Open Door Mission Foundation and a former Board member of the Student Intern Foundation of Houston, the Alzheimer’s Foundation of Houston and Southeast Texas and the Foundation for Financial Literacy.

Walter’s life was characterized by his unwavering faith, his boundless love of family and friends, his humility, professionalism and integrity and an unparalleled zeal for living. He was a brilliant lawyer, an avid hunter and a mentor and example for all. He generously shared his life and its abundance with those around him. Walter was most proud of his four children and twelve grandchildren, whose lives he shaped in significant and invaluable ways.

Walter was preceded in death by his wife, Nancy Zivley; his parents, Walter and Jane Zivley; and his brother in laws, Lionel “Binks” Campbell and Mac McCrea. Walter is survived by his sisters in law, Dianne McCrea and Pat Campbell; his children, Bruce Zivley and his wife, Jill, Claire Zivley Baker and her husband, Bryan, Lisa Zivley Trujillo and her husband, Lorenzo and Perry Zivley and his wife, Harriett; and his much adored grandchildren, Natalie Zivley Davis and her husband, Stephen, Caroline Zivley Rahmn and her husband, Michael, John and Jill Zivley, Davis, Melissa and Alice Baker, Lucas and Miguel Trujillo and Tripp, Sam and Nicole Zivley.

Honorary pallbearers include Davis Baker, John Zivley, Tripp Zivley, Sam Zivley, Lucas Trujillo, Miguel Trujillo, Stephen Davis and Michael Rahmn.

Friends are cordially invited to a visitation with the family from five o’clock in the afternoon until seven o’clock in the evening on Thursday, the 9th of April in the grand foyer of Geo. H Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive, Houston, Texas 77057.

The family will gather for a private burial service at Glenwood Cemetery. The memorial service will be conducted at twelve o’clock on Friday, the 10th of April, at Bethel Church of Houston, 825 Bering Drive, Houston, Texas 77056.

The family extends their gratitude to Laura Salas, Wendy Rosember and Gabby Torres and the other wonderful caregivers for the outstanding care they gave Walter.

In lieu of the customary remembrances, the family requests donations in Walter’s memory to be directed to the Open Door Mission Foundation, Bethel Church of Houston or MD Anderson Cancer Center.