Walter Luther Fowler

Walter Luther Fowler the 3rd was born in Oxnard California on November 22, 1949 to Walter Luther Fowler Jr and Wynona Peters Fowler. He had an older sister Linda, and a younger sister Lisa and a little brother Allan. Later in life they would drop out of his radar so to speak, but this story is about Walter. He grew up fast and hard. If asked what he was doing when JFK was shot, he would say surfing. He was a teenager, it was his birthday, and he had skipped school to surf. When he came home at the normal time, he was busted. His mother knew he hadn’t been at school, because all the kids had been sent home early.

Walter made a living as a truck driver and dock worker, unloading and loading shipping containers with his forklift. He went to school to operate heavy equipment, but was unable to find gainful employment in California, so he moved North to Oregon, where his mother had settled after his father’s death of cirrhosis. He continued to work in shipping and receiving at various places around the Willamette Valley, usually seasonal work where he could have months of free time to camp and enjoy the wilderness.

In 1989 he was working at Agripac, a packing company for locally grown vegetables. While there he was asked to train a young woman on how to run a line, keeping track of the type of veggies and where they were eventually going to be placed. He became enamored with the woman, and found excuses to visit her line and tease her. As time went on, he taught her how to push start her truck, and helped her move apartments. Her name was Sandra Vickoren. Her room-mate invited Walter to go to the fair with Sandi, and even though she almost crippled him with a wayward safety bar, he still fell in love with her. Six months later, after arguing over whom would get the last tomato slice, he asked “So you want to marry me this summer or what?” They married on the anniversary of their first date at the fair. They moved to Grants Pass, and Walter started working at Harry an d David’s, driving forklift and keeping the cold storage warehouse organized. He was the best and always knew where everything was.

Wynona often told Walter that meeting Sandi was the best thing that ever happened to him. He completely agreed. He insisted his friends treat her with respect or they were asked not to come back. In 1993 Sandi joined the US Navy and Walter followed her around the country. He got shipping and receiving jobs wherever they went, and once worked in construction, helping to remodel base housing. He loved being active and taking vacations where the two of them could camp and relax in the woods, or beach. As time went on, they tried to conceive a child, turning to doctors to get help and assistance, but were unable to succeed. They turned their love to their fur children and each other.

In 1999 shortly after his mother died of pneumonia, Walter found out he had cirrhosis like his father. He went through several phases of denial, and anger before finally accepting that his life would be shorter than expected. Sandi and Walter started making choices about the end of life. But the end didn’t come. Walter was injured at work and became unable to do the work he loved. When his wife got out of the Navy in 2003, he became a stay at home dad to the fur babies. He started making wooden hope chests and treasure chests for the kids in his life. His nieces and nephews were precious to him, though he was shy around family because his own family had disowned him. He knew his wife treasured her family and he was happy that she was around them again. He was so proud of what she had made of herself, thinking he was lucky to have someone as smart as her, love and care for him.

As Walter approached the beginning of his 60s, he knew his time was starting to run out. He started trying to make sure that Sandi would be taken care of when he was gone. He told her where he wanted his ashes scattered. He shared his whole heart with her, begging her to let him die naturally and without the pain and suffering he’d seen his parents go through. On January 14th, 2013, Walter passed from this world in the arms of the woman he loved more than anything. He knew he was home and safe, and knew that she would take care of him. The last words he’d said to her before he slipped into unconsciousness were, “Bye Baby. I’m ok.”