Reuben F. Walter

Reuben F. "Bud" Walter passed away March 6, 2010 at Golden Living Center-Golden Age in Tomahawk after a battle with kidney cancer. Bud was born November 22, 1919 in Stone Lake, WI, the third of four siblings. He moved to Tomahawk at age 16, immediately following his graduation from Ladysmith High School in Ladysmith, WI. He married Barbara Bruder on June 25, 1941. He had hoped to live to celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary next year. He joined St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church where Barb was a member and it served as his spiritual home for his entire life. Bud was a veteran of World War II serving in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific. He began his over 45 year career at what would later become Owens-Illinois Inc. He held several positions with the company over the years including auditor, assistant to the Executive Vice President of the Marinette, Tomahawk & Western Railroad (MT&W). He later served as Superintendent of the MT&W and closed out his career with the Northern Woodlands Division. Bud was an avid sportsman and enjoyed being active. He played in the Lincoln County Baseball League on both the Cardinals and Cubs teams in the late 1930s and early 1940s. He bowled on to league teams for many years and enjoyed tournament play. He also shot trap at the local club. For years he enjoyed hunting partridge, rabbit, and deer and would spend hours trout fishing with his beloved beagle Nipper. Bud served on the school board during the years his daughters were in school and was proud to have been able to personally present each of them with their High School Diplomas. Bud's proudest accomplishment was likely a log cabin that he built on family land in the woods near Tomahawk. He walked the land selecting trees, cutting and stripping them and dragging them through the woods to the building site. He raised and placed them with only the mechanical help of a "come-along" winch attached to nearby trees. Four generations of family have enjoyed the cabin and the land. Bud passed along his love of the land and the sense of spirituality he felt in the woods to his family. Bud is survived by his wife, Barbara (Bruder) Walter of Tomahawk, two daughters, Karen (Mike) Morris of Tomahawk, and Jill Walter (Jim) Maxey, Wausau, three grandchildren, Pam (Jeff) Poferl, New Hope, MN, Cindy Morris of Tomahawk, and Toni (Dan) Tourdot, Tomahawk, two great grandchildren, Adam Poferl and Elizabeth Tourdot, one Sister, Lois (Ralph) Goldsmith, Boscobel, WI. Bud is also survived by 9 nieces and nephews and their families. He was preceded in death by his mother, Frances Elda (Vine) Walter, his father Reuben F. Walter, sister, Laura (Hartzel) McCarn and sister, Katherine (Terrance ) Hopfenspirger, and an infant granddaughter, Mary Morris. A private memorial for the family will be held at Krueger Family Funeral Home in Tomahawk, with Rev. Mark Schoenherr officiating.