A tribute to my Dad

Loren Emil Walter Aug 11, 1940-Sept 19, 2009
Life time Durango resident Loren Emil Walter passed away at his home after an extended illness with lymphoma, on Saturday September 19, 2009.

Loren was born to Charles and Carrie Walter in Durango on August 11, 1940. He graduated from Durango High School in 1959.

After graduation he enlisted in the United States Air Force, and was stationed in Maine, USA and Tripoli, Libya in Africa. He served on the Air Force Bases as a Military police officer, and played football for the Air Force in Tripoli in his spare time.

After his tour of duty in the Air Force he returned to Durango and went to work with his father, Charles Walter, owner of the E & W Conoco Station at 19th and Main Ave.

Loren was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on July 2, 1964. He married Sheila Moss on August 14, 1964. They were sealed in the Manti, Utah temple on August 14, 1965. They made their home in Durango for the next 45 years.

Loren worked with his father from 1964 to 1974 at the E & W Conoco. When his father retired in 1974 Loren became the owner and managed the station until 1982 when his lease was cancelled. From 1982 to 1989 Loren owned and operated the 8th street Shell station. He then went to work for Neilson Construction Co. for a short time as an oiler. He then worked as a mechanic and oiler for Jerry Lucas at Melco Construction. In the fall of 2002 he went to work for Bobby Rathjen at Rathjen Construction until his retirement in June of 2008.

Loren was an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saint, and served as a Sunday School President, In the Stake Sunday School Presidency, Executive Secretary, Counselor in the Bishopric, High Counselor, and on the Church cleaning committee.

Loren loved the out doors and was an avid hunter and fisherman. Fly fishing was his passion He taught his children and grandchildren to fish. Loren was not one to sit still. He took pride in caring for his home, yard and garden. He became involved with his children during their years in 4-H and would help them with their animal projects. He was also a great support in their athletic endeavors. He loved to hear what and how his grandchildren were doing. He loved being with his children and taught them many life long skills.

Loren is survived by his wife of 45 years , Sheila Walter of Durango; his children Neysa Rummler (Kevin) of Cypress CA Nicholas Loren Walter (Stephanie) of Corona, CA; Keysha Stutz (Doug) of Rexburg ID; and Kendra Coffey (Jim) of North Las Vegas, NV. Brothers Richard Walter of Dolores, Co; Denny Walter of Sonora, CA; Larry Walter of Durango, Co; sisters Paula Fuller of Boise, ID; Dorothy Smith of San Luis Obispo, CA; Caroline Mortan of Phoenix, AZ; 17 grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews and in-laws.

There will be a viewing at Hood Mortuary in his honor on Thursday September 24, 2009 at 6:00pm to 8:00pm
Funeral services will take place on Friday September 25th 2009 at 11:00am at L.D.S. Church, 2 Hill top Circle in Durango Colo.
Interment will be held the same day following the funeral service at Green Mount Cemetery.

I LOVE YOU DAD!

Today, I pay tribute to my loving Dad. I will treasure the memories we created and will always remember those lessons so tenderly taught. We will miss you but know we will see you again. Love you much. We will meet again soon.

Madison's Baptism

Madison's baptism day: September 5, 2009 at 4:00 p.m. at the North Las Vegas Stake Center located at 50 E. Azure Avenue. There were 10 kids to be baptized that day in our stake. It was a very busy, but memoriable day for Madison. Her Dad, Jim, did the baptism and confirmation. We did miss Grandpa Loren, Grandma Sheila, and Grandma Moss due to Grandpa being sick. Our prayers go out to Grandpa Loren for a speedy recovery. We love you much.

Madison's friends from her primary class and neighbor friend too. From left to right, Cole (in purple), Maggie Allen, Madison, Joseph Porter (also got baptised that day), and Ben Zohner. Thanks to all who came to support Madison in her baptism. Thanks for the love and support.

Happy 8th Birthday Madison

Happy Birthday to you!!! Today we went to get Madison's ears pierced and she was so brave. She didn't even shed a tear. She picked out these beautiful white diasy shaped earrings that will match her dress when she gets baptised on Sept. 5.



Before the piercing guns....

During the process.... She was very good and didn't even flinch. Way to go. You look beautiful.

Pictures from Durango

When things get quiet around the house I remember to check on Madison and Parker. When I found them, Madison had dressed up Parker in the dog's scraves and coat. They had used every single item that was in the bag in the closet. I must say a picture is still worth a thousand words. I try to remember these cute moments when they are so wild around the house.
One activity that everyone wanted to do was riding a horse. Paige has been wanting to do this everytime we go to Durango. This year, my parents neighbors agreed to let my kids ride his mild horse Taylor. After many years, I still remember how to ride a horse. My mom says it is like riding a bike, once you have learned you never forget.

Meghan was not so sure about riding a horse. She got on went around the field and got off. She didn't need another turn.

Paige loved riding the horse. Twice wasn't enough. She wanted to make the horse run but couldn't get Taylor to do more than a gallop.

Parker and Madison enjoyed riding the horses too.

The real reason we go to Durango every year about the same time is to help pick raspberries. We made raspberry jam and tri-berry jam this year. I can't remember how many batches we made but we came home with 36 jars of jam (raspberry and tri-berry made with raspberries, strawberries and blackberries), and 22 pints of frozen raspberries. We should have a year's supply at least.

Paige learning how the whole processes works. She even passed off a 10 hour project for personal progress.

Parker and Madison loved to help smash the blackberries through the stainer. Blackberry seeds are much bigger than raspberry seeds so straining them would give you a smoother jam in the end.

The outside firepit was a HUGE success. Last year my mom had my nephew build a porch like area in the oak brush just off the side of the house. We had a lot of fun building fires and making smores to eat. Parker loved to fuel the fire and many times it got pretty big that I was watching the tops of the trees. We love the farm and all we can do on it to escape from life for several days. It was so peaceful to watch the fire and just not worry about anything. Life is pretty simple.

Parker was in charge (with supervision) to keep the fire going after all smores where cooked. We sat for a couple of hours and enjoyed it. Later, we all found we were eaten by misquitoes. A large pond was right over the fence from the firepit.

My family with my parents at the Bar-D. It has always been a fun place to go since I was a little kid. The beautiful red rocks and scenery is just as I remember too.... BEAUTIFUL and BREATH TAKING.

The last night we were there we went to the BAR-D. The BAR-D has been a family tradition ever since I can remember. You have a chuckwagon dinner with entertainment. Well, I think Parker was bored so here are the pictures we got of the evening. Never let a four year old be in charge of the camera.

Visiting the farm in Durango

We made it to Durango on Saturday night and was quickly put to work. My parents spend all day picking raspberries while we were driving to Durango and when we arrived the counter was full of raspberries. So after dinner, we made two batches of jam. After driving 9 1/2 hours and making two batches jam, I slept very well. Work began again on Monday when we picked more raspberries. We picked and picked and then made four batches of jam and froze 27 pints of raspberries. Tuesday was more a play day. Parker and Madison were ready to go swimming at the rec center and climb the rock wall. We played a good four hours which made everyone nice and tired. Wednesday, another picking day. We woke up early since it is nice and cool (about 75 degrees). We picked 2 1/2 hours and ending up with 26 pints of raspberries. I asked my Mom how many pints of raspberries they have picked since the 4th of July and the running total is 200 pints to date. My Dad keeps saying this is a bumper crop the most they have picked in years.
We try to keep the excitement limited but yesterday we had a day of excitement. Parker started off by slipping on the gravel road while walking West and face planted in the gravel. Just a few scraps and a fat lip. Madison got stung by a baby wasp while we were playing at the school's playground that I attended as a kid, Jim's flight was delayed in Denver so had to stay over night since all flights were cancelled for the evening due to servere thunderstorms, and finally West decided to play with a skunk at 10:30 in the evening making the whole house to stink. Today, I hope will be not so exciting.

I just love it when visitors come to town.

Last week, June 20-27, 2009 we had a very special visitor. Ariana Baggaley came to visit us from Roy, Utah. Ari was the very first friend Paige had. They met when they were 18 months old. Her family moved in just up the street from us in Tooele. They were very good friends for four years. When it was time for us to move to Las Vegas, I thought it was important to help Paige keep their friendship a live. Thanks to modern day technology they are able to keep in touch. Paige really wanted to share Las Vegas with her very first friend so we invited her down for one entire week. It was a very busy week. We tried to do something everyday to show her the good sites we do have here in Las Vegas. First on the agenda was to take both of Paige's very good friends to the Mall to go birthday shopping since both Ari and Amity have birthdays in June. It was a lot of fun taking three girls to do some fun shopping. Below is the picture of Ari and Amity wearing their necklaces Paige bought for them.

Tuesday we were able to go down to the Ethel M's chocolate factory and walk through the cactus gardens.

Yummy chocolate samples!!! Can we have two?

After touring the cactus gardens, Paige wanted to show Ari the Bellagio gardens. These gardens change every season of the year. Going to the Bellagio is one of our family favorites because it is always so amazing what they can do with flowers and organic material.

Of course, you can't go down to the Bellagio without also seeing the amazing fountains. I could sit and watch the water all night if my family would let me but we only stay for three shows. The water is in sync with music and it flows perfectly with the beat of the music.

Ari is waiting patiently for the next show with the Bellagio behind her.

Wednesday I took the girls and Parker to play in our parks here in Las Vegas. Of course, our parks are just not any parks. Most all come equipt with water features for the kids to play in. Since we can get pretty HOT down here in Vegas it is nice to see parks to help keep the kids cool. This park we went to is in Centennial Hills right next to the new library. It is right next to the "Butterfly" park, but well hidden so it is not usually very crowded (until now since I have told everyone about it).

Wednesday night was young women and young men's youth activity for our church. They went ice blocking and got very dirty. I was not there so picture are not available of the very dirty kids sliding down hills on blocks of ice. It did sound like they had a lot of fun though.

Thursday, was a day of swimming over at my brother-in-law's home in Summerlin. Pictures below are Steven's pool we went to. He does have a very beautiful backyard to enjoy.

I didn't get pictures of Ari and Paige swimming because I forgot my camera, but here is Paige jumping off the rock cliff the week before. My brother-in-law's pool is cool!!

On Friday, we went to Red Rock Canyon and took the hike on the Children's discovery trail. We were going to take another hike, but I missed the turn and the girls didn't want to endure the

13-mile loop twice so we just went on the Discovery trial. It was fun but the temptures starting getting warm so we took off down town to go to the M&M store on the strip.

We finished up the week by taking a helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon early morning Saturday. We got up at 4:30am and left the house by 5:15 am. We drove down to Boulder City where the helicopter terminal was located. We had a 7:00am take-off time. It was pretty neat to fly over Lake Mead and fly over the Grand Canyon.

We had so much fun!!!!!! Let's do it again sometime. Thanks Ari for coming down and spending time with our family.