He was always a very nice guy at the Huntingtown convince center. I hadn’t seen him in sometime and was wondering if he had retired. He loved to talk about his manual transmission in his old truck. A very cheerful and nice man that will be missed by more than he ever thought possible.

I don’t know where to start. Sonny and I were not only brothers in the Air Force, we were brothers by ” another mother” as Sonny used to say. Stationed together in the Air Force at Beale AFB, we became fast friends. we rode our motorcycles all over California and many other places too. we worked together some while in the Air Force, always kept in touch after Sonny retired. I painted his Mercury Montego and motorcycle trailer to match colors, he was so excited,. we always talked and got together several times after I retired. Dotty and Sonny came to visit us, and we came to Chesapeake beach Md. Since Dotty passed, we spoke almost every day, Bev or I called him while he was in Annapolis every day. We always wanted to see how he was doing. he will be sorely missed in our family. It is fitting that Dotty, the woman he married on Valentine’s Day, Feb 14th, that he passed exactly one year to the date that Dotty passed! Prayers to all the family, our regrets we will not be able to make the service. We are there in Spirit! with all our Love and Condolences, God Bless the Family!!! contact me any time

I am heartbroken reading this. I hadn’t been back to visit Uncle Sonny since Dad passed away but would talk to him every few months and thought of him and prayed for him often.

To my cousins and their families, I am very sorry for your loss.

I am devastated to learn today of the sudden passing of my Air Force “brother”…”Easy Wally.” We had been fellow USAF veterans and members of the 551st Air Reconnaissance Wing, that first worked together on EC-121H model Connies (aka Super Constellations) in 1966 @ Otis AFB, MA. I often would visit Wally within his work center. He was a Scheduler in the aircraft Phase Dock and I was a Crew Chief on the flightline. We both would interact with each other and often share coffee and donuts together. In 1969 I was transferred to Vietnam and Wally was selected to go to a different base in Vietnam at the same time. In 1970, following our 1-year assignments overseas, we again crossed paths as we both were processing into the personnel office of the 301st Air Refueling Wing @ Lockbourne AFB, OH (Small World!). We both were shocked to have our life’s paths cross again within the same squadron following our return from overseas. We both remained in the same squadron (301st OMS) but Wally did not want to work on the flightline so he got another hangar job while I was assigned again as a crew chief on a KC-15 Stratotanker. In 1971 I was transferred to the Wing’s Quality Control Division and Wally joined our team of evaluators/inspectors in 1974.

In 1975 I was chosen to be assigned to a major air command Hqs (SAC) staff position with the Strategic Air Command at Offutt AFB, NE. That job required me to travel to OH occasionally. During each visit to Rickenbacker AFB (formerly named Lockbourne AFB) I would hook-up with Wally and we’d hit a couple of local taverns and feed the pin ball machines.

In 1976, Wally was transferred to Beale AFB, CA. While driving to CA from OH he stopped by my house in NE and stayed with us for a couple of nights. After wishing him well on his continuing journey he later phoned us from Utah and said his car had broken down near the Salt Flatts of the Great Salt Lake basin – so I wired him money to repair his car, which he immediately repaid after arriving in CA.

After being estranged for almost 20-years I was able to locate him in Maryland in 1997 (thanks to the Internet). From that phone reunion we’d often chat on the phone and I’d send him graphics, jokes, and stories (via USPS) since he refused to own a computer.

Wally was a dear friend throughout my military career and I am deeply saddened to learn of his passing today. He had a very good heart and was considered a good friend by many. The last time we spoke on the phone was when his wife (Dot) passed away. In the following months I was unable to contact him by phone but by the grace of the Lord (and probably Sonny) dear mutual friends in DE (the Trego family) today found Sonny’s obit post.

Wally…you were a valued and rare friend who many will miss often. You were a GREAT fellow American who loved your country and proudly served our nation with distinction and honor. As an aircraft prepares to depart on a mission the ground crew talks with the aircrew on the interphone and clears the aircraft for departure by saying…”Chocks removed, cleared to taxi and have a good flight” Fare well my valued friend! Rest well alongside your dearly departed Dorothy.