My wife and I attended a memorial service for my high school friend Walter this past weekend. I was asked by his widow to speak at the service since I was probably the one who knew him the longest. The combination of not being prepared and being emotional did not help me deliver and I didn’t do him or his family justice. I thought it would be good to come here and write a little bit about my memories of Walter.
I knew of Walter since I was a little kid in grade school. We both went to Comboni School in Port Sudan, a place where lots of life-long friendships were established between lots of people. The first memories that I can recall of him were in junior high school where he and James used to sit behind me in class. They were both a little older than me and more mature and would crack jokes that it took most of us a while to understand. Walter was also much taller than everyone else in our class and was a basketball and volleyball star in the making at that young age. By the time most of us got around to playing those sports, he was miles ahead of everyone.
In high school, Walter was the all-school kid who excelled in everything. On top of being the biggest sports superstar, Walter had an affinity for music and was an incredible dancing machine.At the time, Hip Hop and R&B were very popular and learning lyrics to new songs and dances was the thing to do during our free time; Walter taught me how to do the running man properly. I listen to songs from that period a lot. Every time I hear a “Sadness” or “Rivers of Belief” from the first Enigma album, I go back to a time when we were at a music store and all I can visualize is Walter bobbing his head to the beat; I remember it as if it happened last week.
Walter was also our basketball and volleyball varsity teams captain and acting coach. He taught me how to post up with my back to the basket and score, how to play smart and asked me to calm down every time I got hot headed over a missed call. He always got in the middle to prevent chaos if he sensed a fight was potentially going to erupt. Now that I am older and thinking about it, I lost my father before my sophomore year; I truly believe that all what I mentioned above had helped me get through it and had shaped who I am today. My passion for music and sports was established during that period and has been deep rooted in me ever since.
After high school, I only saw Walter once, a year or two after graduation. He was still the same kind and funny big brother. We lost contact after that and my efforts to locate him over the years were not successful. A mutual friend met him last year and passed along his contact information. After all that time, I was finally able to get a hold of him over the phone and it was like back at Comboni again. Walter had not changed a bit, same spirit, laugh and sense of humor. He had moved back to South Sudan to help his father with his business, but mentioned that his wife and kids were here in the US and that he usually comes to see them around Christmas time. We made a promise to visit each other when that happens. It never happened!
So this past weekend, We drove to Sioux Falls to see Walter’s family without Walter and attend his memorial. Walter left behind a wife and four magnificent kids who are literally and collectively and extension of him. He is one of the few people that I know that I can’t think anything negative to say about. He will be missed by lots tremendously.