Walter Earl Weaver

1942 - 2016

Walter Earl "Buck" "Doc" Weaver, 73, of Monongahela, lost his fight against prostate cancer at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 21, 2016. He fought the good fight for five years.
He was born October 4, 1942, in Brownsville, a son of the late Walter Russell Weaver and Marian Hornbake Weaver.
Dr. Weaver lived life with a great love and passion for his family, students, gardening, reading, sports, travel and his intense love of music and teaching.
After his graduation in 1960 from California Community High School, he attended West Virginia University on a Board of Governors scholarship and graduated in 1964. While at West Virginia University, he was in many theater and choral productions. He was also in University Singers, traveling throughout the state of West Virginia. He also performed in summer stock during summer breaks, being cast in the role of "Curly" in Oklahoma, "the Grand Puba" in The Mikado, "Geronte" in The Frantic Physician and many others. Dr. Weaver received his master of fine arts degree in voice from Carnegie Mellon University in 1968, after performing the German song cycle, "Die Schone Mullerin" by Franz Schubert. He then received a fellowship into the doctor of fine arts program at Carnegie Mellon University in 1968, completing the course work in a year and receiving his doctorate in 1977, after completion and approval of his doctoral dissertation, "The Development of Vocal, Choral and Musical Concepts Based Upon a Sequenced Integration of Vocal-Choral Concepts with Interpretive Body Movements."
Dr. Weaver began teaching at Ringgold School District in 1963, before graduating from West Virginia University, because they needed a music teacher for the junior high school. His plan was to teach only a year because he was going to perform, but he fell in love with teaching and fulfilled his performing dreams through his many award winning choirs at Finleyville Junior High School and Monongahela High School.
He left Ringgold School District in 1968 to accept the fellowship to Carnegie Mellon University. He joined the faculty of Community College of Allegheny County – Boyce Campus in 1969, retiring in 1999. He was the first director of music at Boyce Campus, and the choirs performed on campus, as well as in nursing homes and hospitals and at Carnegie Music Hall in Pittsburgh.
The crowning moment for him was when the Community College of Allegheny County – Boyce Campus choir performed the National Anthem at Three Rivers Stadium, and he was told by Willie Stargell after the performance, "Man, I wish I could do that." Dr. Weaver's reply was, "Man, I wish I could do what you do!" Walter had a tryout with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1960, but he opted to accept the scholarship to West Virginia University and pursue his music career after a talk with then-manager Danny Murtaugh.
For many years, he was the church choir director at Brownsville United Methodist Church, Bethesda United Presbyterian Church in Elizabeth and First Presbyterian Church in Monongahela, where he also served as deacon and elder.
Dr. Weaver was a frequent soloist in local churches, concerts, cantatas and weddings of family and friends. He was chosen as a guest conductor at numerous local and state music festivals on the junior high school, high school and college levels. Numerous junior high school, high school and adult students passed through his music studio over his almost five decades of teaching. Many won college scholarships and became music teachers and professional performers on the local and national levels and many sang for the pure joy of singing. Parents often told him their child could leave home in a very bad mood but always came home from a lesson re-energized and happy.
Dr. Weaver was an avid sports fan. He loved listening and complaining about the Pittsburgh Pirates, Steelers and Penguins, and he never missed a game!
Many summers were spent at his family's cottage at Deep Creek Lake, fishing, boating, water skiing and enjoying the beautiful setting of the lake. He loved fishing and hunting, but, after retiring, began taking photos of animals in the wild in the western United States. He was an amateur photographer all of his life, having set up a dark room in his family home in California while in high school. He continued the love of photography by taking pictures of landscapes, sunsets and his children, grandchildren and vacation destinations.
On May 4, 1968, he married Patricia Kristobek Weaver, who survives.
Surviving, in addition to his wife, are two sons, David (Kristen Cowan) Weaver of Peters Township and John Weaver and fiancée Jackie Opalko of New Eagle; two brothers, Jeffrey (Loures) Weaver of Uniontown and Michael (Sarah) Weaver of Mars; nine grandchildren, Ethan, Aidan, Blake, Julia, Lydia and Aaron Weaver, Cecelia Backo and Sydney and Danica Opalko.
Friends will be received from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. Sunday and Monday in Marshall Marra Funeral Home, 216 Chess Street, Monongahela, 724-258-6767, marshallmarrafuneralhome.com, where services will begin at 11 a.m. Tuesday, July 26. Interment will follow in Monongahela Cemetery.
Memorial donations may be made in Dr. Weaver's memory to Washington Area Humane Society, P.O. Box 66, Eighty Four, PA 15330, to Monongahela Area Library, 811 West Main Street, Monongahela, PA 15063, or to a charity of the donor's choice.