GOOD NEWS, LIONS: THE DEATH OF WALTER MOORE WAS GREATLY EXAGGERATED

 

“Tell everybody that I rose from the dead.”

That was former Monongah High student Walter Moore on the phone from Melbourne, Florida after I told him that I had published a 2015 article in this Monongah High Alumni blog that Sarge Shriver said he passed away in 2012.

I would never know that Walter is alive if Sherry VanMeter Nicholson, Class of 1965, didn’t have “West Virginia all over her jersey,” as Walter laughingly told me.

Sherry, who lives in Youngstown, was visiting Florida and having a meal at the Fish Bone Restaurant in Viera. She headed for the ladies room and heard “Hey, West Virginia!”

The voice was fellow diner Walter, who’s been at that restaurant “about 10 times,” definitely not dead, no matter what Sarge Shriver said in 2015.

Walter said to Sherry “I’m from a tiny town in West Virginia that you never heard of, Monongah.”

Sherry Nicholson said:

“I was with friends outside on the deck and went inside to go to the rest room and I had a West Virginia shirt on and he called out to me saying hey "West Virginia" and as usual I stopped and talked to them as you know we West Virginians don't know a stranger.”

Sherry told Walter: “I’m from Monongah.”

Sherry told me about the encounter. I called Walter and left a message. He called me “from the dead.”

Walter’s wife, Lottie, listened in on our phone call punctuated with laughter. Lottie is from Belton, Michigan, a small Detroit suburban area.

Walter and Lottie came to Florida in 1995 from Ann Arbor, Michigan, where Walter had a service station and recreation vehicle business starting in 1960.

Walter started with the Class of 1955, but left without graduating to serve his country in the Korean War. He passed his GED test, which made him a high school graduate, after he got out of the service.

Walter and Lottie have four children: Jeffrey, Michael, Terri and Shannon, who provided 6 grandchildren that led to 1 great-grandchild so far.

It was Terri Gelman who sent me the photo of Walter and Lottie that you see here.

Martha Moore, Class of 1954, who married Pat Zecco, is Walter’s sister, who was “a very good singer,” according to the late children’s book author Linda Tomlinson

So, Sarge Shriver, you “kill” anyone else lately?

 

For those who missed the original story of Walter’s “death,” here it is:

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

The sad news about  Walter Moore, who started with Class of 1955

 

Otis “Sarge” Shaver, who lives in Monongah, provides sad news about Walter Moore, the object of Linda Tomlinson Stevenski’s search:

 

“Walter Moore was deceased a couple years back.”

 

Linda, one of Monongah’s children’s books authors, wrote:

 

“Does anyone know what happened to Walter Moore? He was from Carolina and would have graduated in '55 but he didn't pass one class.

 

“He had a sister named Martha who was a very good singer. I haven't seen him since graduation. We were good friends then.

 

“Does anyone know about him? 

 

"Linda Stevenski”

 

 

Thanks, Sarge. 

 

Sorry to hear what happened to Walter, though. 

 

And sorry you couldn’t join the 21 of us who made it to the Three Ways Inn reunion of Monongah High grads in Fairmont on Dec. 30. You missed a good time.