Selwyn B. Walter

Selwyn Bernard Walter, of Columbia, died June 15, 2009, at Howard County Hospital of heart and lung complications following hip fracture surgery. He was 97.

Mr. Walter was born July 29, 1911, in Edon, Ohio, to Simon B. and Sarah M. Walter.

A graduate of Ohio State University, where he received a bachelor's degree in education, he also received a master's degree in art from Duke University. Mr. Walter was a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon and the honorary Phi Alpha Theta.

He met his wife, Pearl Elizabeth Free, at Duke University and they married in 1938.

After some years teaching school in one-room schoolhouses and in junior and senior high school, Mr. Walter came to Washington, D.C., in 1939 to begin working at the Library of Congress. His final assignment was as report writer, historian and analyst, and he retired from there in 1973. During this time, he moved from Washington to Greenbelt and then to University Park, where he lived for 54 years, before moving to Columbia 2004.

For more than 70 years, he was a member of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Ohio. He was also a member of the Scottish Rite.

His hobbies included gardening, researching his genealogy, working crossword puzzles and travel. He most enjoyed spending time with his family.

He was preceded in death by his wife of 65 years, Pearl Elizabeth Free Walter, in 2004.

Mr. Walter is survived by his daughters, Sara Chedester, and Martha Preston and her husband, Jim; his grandchildren, James Preston, Mary Allman and her husband, Bryan, Martin Preston and his wife, Melissa, William Chedester and his wife, Diana; and his great-grandchildren, Shara, Joey, Damian, Amanda and Julia.

Services were held at Bethany United Methodist Church June 19, 2009. Interment was at Fort Lincoln Cemetery.

Memorial contributions may be made to the American Heart Association at www.americanheart.org, or Bethany United Methodist Church, 2875 Bethany Lane, Ellicott City, MD 21042.

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