My friend Dan:
Although Dan loved to share his insightful thoughts and original opinions on a broad range of topics from current events ot the nature of the universe, (for example, the use of water, CO2, agriculture, technology, computers, science, the Constitution, history, world religion and cultures), he rarely if ever, talked about his personal or spiritual life.
Here is what we know:
Daniel Max Walthall was born in Littlefield, Texas, August 2, 1937. One of eight children, he grew up on a farm. He was proud of his family.
After high school, he enlisted in the Air Force in 1956, and was on active duty until 1961 including time overseas working on a US airbase in Morocco.
Moving from Florida to Georgia, he got a job with IBM as a customer engineer. Dan was an innovative problem solver. For more than 25 years, he used his technical skill with machines and his social skill with people to fix problems.
In 1972, he married the love of his life, Betty. Members of the First United Methodist Church in Tucker, they attended church and participated in Sunday school classes. Dan and Betty traveled widely, leading tours to England and Israel. Dan was a man of faith, lived his Christian values. He was generous and caring.
When Betty became ill, and a young woman, Mensura Said, came to care for her. She lived with them in their home and they became close.
Betty died in 2010, and Mensura stayed with Dan for the next 3 years, while she studied to become a registered nurse.
He shared much in common with his friend and neighbor, Bob Burnett. They were fellow Toastmasters in the Gwinnett-Tucker Club #833. Meeting at Matthews Cafeteria 7:30 a.m. Friday mornings, Dan would set up the camera and record the meetings on VCR tapes. They were Masonic brothers, belonging to Atlanta-Peachtree Lodge #59. Bob helped Dan design a geodesic dome to protect the irrigation pump on his farm in Texas. They constructed the parts in Tucker, loaded them in Dan's truck, drove to Texas, and spent a week building the pump house. When (our home) the home of Bob and Lane Burnett burned up in November 2018, Dan took us in. We stayed in the empty bedroom while we cleared out our property, made decisions, and rebuilt our home.
In retirement, Dan took on many new projects. Pre-COVID, he played bridge four mornings a week and spent he afternoons at McDonald's in Tucker talking with people and stretching out ideas on the back of napkins.
Dan was an independent soul, a social yet private man, a doer with an active mind, who used his God-given gifts to make the world a better place and care for all people.
Sunday afternoon, May 7, 2023, Dan died peacefully in hospice care from cancer at a nursing home in Tucker. Dan is survived by the daughters of his first marriage, Kristina Janelle Mason and Karen Cecile Sutton; other dear relatives and special friends.
Daniel Max Walthall was buried with Air Force honors at the Georgia National Cemetery, 1080 Scott Hudgens Drive, Canton, GA 30114 at 10:30am, Tuesday, May 16, 2023.
He will be missed!!
---obituary written by Lane Burnett, May 2023)
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.floralhillsfuneral.com for the family.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.11.0