Clyde Walter

Clyde Walter 1931 - 2009 Clyde Carlos Walter was born in Denver, Colorado on July 14, 1931, to Clyde A. and Isabella Burr Walter. Both parents are deceased. Survivors are his beloved wife Jean Stovall and his son William Burr Walter of Houston, and William's mother, Mary Ann Bengsten, who also lives in Houston. Clyde was an "oilfield brat", moving as a youngster wherever Standard Oil and Gas Company directed his father to move-- Wyoming, Oklahoma and Texas. As a youngster, Clyde attended 14 schools in three states graduating from Levelland High School in 1950 where he was president of the student council. Starting at age 16, Clyde worked summers in the oilfields around Levelland for Plains Oil Service Co. He graduated from Texas Tech University in 1954 with a degree in journalism with an English minor. During the summer preceding college graduation Clyde worked for San Juan Uranium Mining Co. at a site near Durango, Colorado. Following graduation, Clyde was employed as editor of the Slaton Slatonite, a weekly newspaper in Slaton, Texas. He left Slaton to work with the Amarillo Globe-News, a daily newspaper, where he gained experience in all phases of reporting, eventually becoming night city editor. He was the first Amarillo reporter ever assigned to cover the Texas Legislature, moving to Austin during legislative sessions. While in Amarillo, Clyde also served as North Texas correspondent for Time and Life magazines and also as correspondent for United Press International . He took a leave of absence from the Amarillo paper to work as campaign press secretary to Lloyd Bentsen Jr. in Bentsen's first (successful) run for a U.S. Senate seat from Texas. After the primary, Clyde returned briefly to the Amarillo newspaper before joining the Capitol Press Corps in Austin in the Harte-Hanks Bureau (San Antonio Express and the Corpus Christi Caller-Times). It was during this period that Clyde met and "drank a lot of beer" with Bob Bullock who was then running for Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. When the capitol bureau closed due to the sale of the Express, Clyde went to work in the ill-fated 1974 Constitutional Convention as liaison for the state's daily newspapers. The convention failed to rewrite the Texas Constitution and Clyde was out of work, except for a stint with the Texas Public Employees Association. When Bob Bullock took office as Comptroller of Public Accounts he hired Clyde who then remained with the state agency throughout the administrations of Bullock, John Sharp and briefly with Carole Keeton Strayhorn. Clyde retired from the Comptroller's Office in January 1999 with 24 years of service. Clyde's wishes where for loving family and friends to gather for good food, drinks and celebration of his life, at a time of their choice.