The famous names and the events that formed the backdrop to his own time on earth included Edward VII. George V, The Great War, Edward VIII, the Abdication, George VI, the second world war, most of Elizabeth II’s reign, 1 Mexican Dictator the infamous Profiero Diaz, The Mexican Revolution and umpteen instances of civil unrest since then during which there have been14 Mexican Presidents, 21 American presidents and 16 British Prime Ministers.

Imagine, he started life in Mexico when there was no TV or computers and radio had barely been invented. Bicycles and horse drawn carriages were still in vogue, steam was still the prime mover of most machinery and coal was king.

He has now left a modern world that has changed immeasurably… computers and TV are passé, radio is old hat, steam trains and Cornish beam engines are museum pieces, one can fly to the UK in 24 hours and exchange messages with a friend on the other side in a blink of an eye, coal is a dirty word, oil is King and nuclear power is in the wings waiting until all fossil fuel energy has been exhausted.

In a life time of incessant and accelerating change Walter set his own high standards, and values and stuck to them. Intrinsically a conservative and very private person he determined early where his talents lay and made the most of them….but, he knew his limits and stuck to what he did best. He built on his strengths.

He was like a rock, a source of re-assurance, unfailing good humour, polite to a fault and rarely put out. He was a strong, positive leader when he chose to be, and a good companion. In his world, especially in his prime during his lifetime of work in Mexico, he was a giant of a man and earned the respect of all he came in contact with.

Loves and Passions

Walter was a man of many loves and passions.

Swimming and tennis were high on his list of must does. In his youth he was famous for diving off a 40 foot rock into the open sea near Torquay, He emulated Johnny Weismuller (the Olympic idol of his day) and became a local swimming champion aspiring to, but not quite getting selected, for the British Olympic swimming team. One of Dad’s prize possessions was the Victory Cup he won outright at the famous Leander Swimming Club. As you can see, this was made out of a 9 inch brass shell casing. It became a conversation piece in every house he had….much to my mother’s despair as it often became a convenient receptacle for dust and other things.

Yes, swimming was the thing to do at every opportunity and no member of his family escaped this enthusiasm. I remember being dragged along at the end of a rope to practice the finer points of the trudgeon stroke and the Australian free-style crawl.. There was another occasion when his overloaded, borrowed dinghy with 5 people on board and the family dog sank in Acapulco Bay on the Mexican Pacific Coast. Thankfully we all were able to swim for the shore… dog first…except Walter, who, hat still on his head, dressing gown floating around him continued struggling to salvage the boat and the out board motor. He spent the rest of that holiday trying to restore the motor to health. That was typical of him….. once he set out to do something he rarely gave up, no matter what!

A Mexican by birth (born in the same city of Guanajuato as the present President Vincente Fox) his loves included many of the best things about that exotic violent country. Mexican food was high on the list of favorite things. So was exploring by car every part of that huge and varied country. Before he left in 1971 he had been to every one of the country’s states and knew tracts of the land well, especially any place to do with hard rock mining. Naturally, no matter where he found himself in Mexico he very quickly found the best places for a swim.

Walter’s phenomenal memory enabled him to recall and talk about events from his earliest childhood. These included the family escape from the Mexican Revolution when they took one of the last trains from Mexico City to Veracruz. He, with other members of the now refugee family, recalled other traumatic times of those days including hiding in a mine shed whilst revolutionaries were ransacking the family house.

Dad was British and very proud of it. He was a great supporter of British values and traditions to which he showed an unfailing loyalty. He spent most of his school days in Devon and Cornwall and grew up to love all that England stood for and the gentle way of life. He was a great raconteur and his elephantine memory was a family marvel.…. he read widely and his favourite topics included history especially anything to do with military events, anything to do with steam trains, soccer, Arsenal, Cornish mining, Gilbert & Sullivan, Kipling.. He particularly enjoyed recounting jokes from his enormous and bilingual repertoire, sometimes to the embarrassment of closer members of his family….. He was never without a book…. I can remember my mother often complaining "Wally why do you always have to have your nose buried in a book?"

A first rate bridge player he also indulged in gardening when he finally retired and found space and time in New Zealand. In his extended family he was famous for his citrus drinks, products of his small orchard in Pakuranga.

He loved music, especially the best of Mexico and that of the era of flappers in the 20’s and 30’s and the memorable music of the war years. He played the drums and fooled around with the harmonica to the sometime delight of his friends.

Unfailingly cheerful and positive… Walter was a modest man, never boasted, never never complained.

Even during the long years of forced separation from wife and family after the war he never complained. That was a sacrifice he made to ensure Charmian and I had an English style education in another country for which I could never repay him enough. One of the things he used to do to wile away the difficult times was to make jig saw puzzles by hand fretz saws from thin plywood. This was a most time consuming business for sure, requiring much patience, skill and determination. A complete puzzle took him several months and he made many of them. I still have one relic which is of more than 1000 pieces……certainly something to remember him by and again typical of him. I wonder who will be willing to take on the task of trying to put that together again? Last time he did it was a few years ago and with at least four of us working on it still took several weeks to do….

Achievements

Walter became something of a legend in Pachuca…. the tough Mexican mining town where he worked for most of his life. The Pachuca silver mines were at their peak during the 40s and 50’s when they were the largest producer of the precious metal in the world. Almost unbelievably they are still working half a century later albeit now producing much less.

In a career spanning nearly fifty years Walter worked his way up through various English, German and American mining companies that operated in the States of Hidalgo, Chihuahua and Guerrero. He became the General Superintendent of the Loreto Mill in Pachuca. That mill survives to this day.

I remember his coming home one day from work much earlier than usual. He was soaking wet and smelling of cyanide concentrate. I found out much later that he had just rescued a mill worker from drowning or worse in a cyanide filled agitation tank. I have a medallion he was awarded for that, yet he never spoke about it.

On another occasion he was directly involved in the work to relieve and recover the effects of the collapse of four Pachuca tanks. These very large tanks were 60 feet high and about 20 feet in diameter and were filled with toxic mine solutions. You can imagine what a disaster that was as it happened in a mill packed with machinery, pipes, pumps, ore crushers and all the other paraphernalia required for extracting silver from its ores.

And yet at another time after torrential rains a river dam collapsed in the mountains above Pachuca and the resulting flood inundated the mines, with disastrous results and threatened the closure of the whole industry. Again, Walter played a prominent role in the subsequent rescue and rehabilitation work.

One of Dad’s more permanent legacies is the Club de Tenis de Pachuca. A foundation member before the war, he became its President and was the prime mover in ensuring its survival and its establishment in excellent buildings and facilities where it remains an active and vibrant part of the Pachuca community. Needless to say he ensured it was equipped with a swimming pool and diving board!

Again, when he talked of those things he never said anything about the central role he played. I had to find most of this out much later from his colleagues and friends.

When Dad finally retired he had to tear up all his roots in Mexico, to join the family migration to New Zealand. In the space of a few years some 17 members of the family migrated to NZ from places as far apart as UK, Mexico, and Brunei. For Walter it was not an easy decision as he left behind a sister, a nephew and niece and their families. He also left behind generations of relatives including his father, his mother, his brother and his sister buried in the Cornish cemetery in Real del Monte and in the British cemetery in Mexico City. He tore himself away also from family history and many friends and colleagues.

But it proved to be one of the best things he did. He remained in NZ as the family head and in peaceful retirement for another 30 years. He often said what a good place NZ is and how much he appreciated his good luck in coming here. He was especially appreciative of his good fortune in finding the many good friends he made here.

Finally

Walter really was an English gentleman man of the old school. His will be a hard act to follow. He has provided an excellent example of how to walk through life in a civilized way.

He has, I am sure, gone to a better place but never to be forgotten by family and friends. I am also sure that when he knocks on the pearly gates he will be as polite as ever and ask if he can be allowed in. I am positive he will get in but he will take care also to wipe his feet before crossing the threshold.

I am also certain that I speak for him in thanking everyone here and all who are unavoidably absent for your valued friendship and support. I want also to express his and my special thanks to Picton House and all who looked after him so well in his last days. Much appreciation is due to all the residents who made him feel so welcome and valued and to the many friends who visited him whilst there. A gentleman to the end he continued to charm everyone right to his last day.

Sorry Viejo I never found the Cornishman’s Arms for you in New York last year, but I did try. Viejo, que te vayas bien con tu Dios. Todos aqui mandan saludos y respetos para tu y Margaret.

Thank you.