John A. Walter

CAPTAIN USN (RET.)
Captain John A. "Buff" Walter, USN (Ret.), died after a long illness in Eugene on January 9, 2025. He was 89 years old. Son of C.C. Walter, Sr. and Christine (Lindstrom) Walter, Buff was born and raised in Menomonie, WI, where he lettered in Football and Band at Menomonie High School, and was an Eagle Scout. At Stout Institute he majored in Indus-trial Arts, and upon obtaining a congressional appointment, entered the US Naval Acade-my with the Class of 1958, 11th Company. Upon graduation as an Ensign in the Civil Engineer Corps he married Joyce Fraedrich. Buff then began a distinguished, 28-year ca-reer in the Navy, first as Maintenance and Utilities Offi cer at Naval Air Station Oceana. He furthered his engineering education at Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY, and then joined the staff of Commander Fleet Air/Commander Naval Air Bases Al-ameda. In 1963, he went to Naval Air Station tion Adak, Alaska as Shops Engineer in the Public Works Department. After Adak, Buff served as Public Works Offi cer of the Naval Training Station San Diego, and went on to pursue graduate studies in Water Resources Engineering at the University of Michigan. Buff was then deployed to the Republic of Vietnam, where he served with the Offi cer in Charge of Construction. Subsequent tours of duty included Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Northern Division, in Seattle, and the US Naval Communication Station Harold E. Holt near Exmouth, Western Australia. In 1972, Buff became the fi rst special assistant for ecology at the Pacifi c Fleet headquarters at Makalapa, HI. At the Naval Facilities En-gineering Command headquarters in Ross-lyn, Virginia, Buff directed the Navy's shore environmental program. In 1980, he led the fi rst US engineering team to assist in recov-ery from the catastrophic earthquake in El Asnam, Algeria, and following assignment as Assistant Commander for Engineering in Rosslyn, he was named Chief of Logistics Operations at the US European Command Headquarters in Stuttgart. Buff's fi nal tour of duty was as Chief of Staff for Facilities at the Naval Reserve Command in New Orleans. Upon retirement from the Navy, Buff joined an engineering fi rm in New Orleans, before moving back to Virginia, where he worked for the fi rm Ecology and Environment. Buff finished his professional career as a marketing and program manager with Versar. Buff was married to Joyce for 42 happy years until her untimely death in 2000. In 2007, Buff married Jean Walsh, who died in 2022. He is survived by his three children, Patty, Scott and Rich and their spouses, five grandchildren, and three great-granddaughters, and by Jean's daughter Chris, her spouse and their two children. The funeral is scheduled at Arlington National Cemetary at 9 a.m. on June 27.