By Michael Wynne
For as long as I have casually known Wally, I never really knew him. (Isn’t that typical of most all of us, that is, not really making the time and effort to try to know more about our fellow humans.) Well, as I have always said, the more you know about the people around you, the more you will understand and appreciate why they believe and do what they do, albeit political, religious, social, business and family activities.
I sat down one afternoon at the Tamp and Grind coffee constabulary recently, one Spring afternoon, and asked Wally to tell me about what I now know to be an extraordinary life he lived.
Wally’s dad, who he described as a “country bumpkin,” died in his 30’s of a heart attack when Wally was only five. He was a salesman who later owned a laundry business that was just becoming successful when he suddenly died. Although Wally never knew him, his ever presence was much later felt strongly in over 500 letters that Wally’s uncle eventually gave him that Wally finally got around to reading in 2007. But we will come to this later.
Wally was born in Newark, Ohio in 1943. His mother took over the laundry business when her husband died, and ran it for many years. He described his life as “one dimensional” in his early years, but feels his life “started” on July 10, 1965, at a party at his house. That night, he met the love of his life, Becky, and has now been married to her just short of 59 years!
Wally really had no goals then. “I envied the people who knew what they wanted in life,” expresses Wally now. He said that he had a natural talent in math so he ended up in the field of civil engineering where he obtained a Master’s degree. His life now seemed to be set – Engineering appeared to be a good job to take care of his growing family. Through various incarnations, he remained in engineering for 20 years. At a difficult point in his company’s business, however, Wally turned to becoming an engineering instructor at two local universities. But eventually, work would bring him, surprisingly, all the way down to Alexandria. Through an unusual stroke of luck, he took his old high school love of cross-country running and became a math and cross-country coach at Menard High. “I fell in love with the school environment there and, of course, the kids.” He retired, like many others did, in 2020 during Covid.
Now back to his dad’s letters – after reading them and making notes, he wrote a biography of his father (with a little help from a professional). “It was such a rich experience learning about my dad from the letters. I named the book after one of his common sayings, ‘It’s All In A Lifetime.'” That book gave Wally a taste for writing, and he liked it!
Wally has followed up on his father’s biography with a long series of self-published books, all individual in subject matter and all life-affirming, all written under the general theme of being inspirational. One book (“Just Persevere!”) was devoted to his late daughter Jenny who died tragically young. Another fascinating book entitled, “Whatever Happened,” takes familiar stories in the Bible and fills in the gaps in the stories, both enhancing them and providing context. Along with many others, he has written his autobiography, filled with many interesting stories that I did not have the space to share here.
Wally is an “everyman” in many ways, writing of the triumphs and tragedies that we all share in this challenging world. We need more people like Wally to share their experiences with all of us. Why don’t you, the reader, write of your stories of life, too?
