Jogging for fitness as he'd done for almost all his life, Uncle Wally tragically departed this lifetime late Thursday afternoon. While his cheerful smile may have temporarily disappeared his spirit lives on in his wife, children, grandchildren, brothers, nieces and nephews and those he touched throughout his lifetime.
Dr. Wallace Ward, one of four closely knit brothers who grew up in Buffalo, N.Y., was a remarkable man. A former scientist for Dupont who helped create Teflon, a product used by NASA in space missions, Uncle Wally was also an expert poker player. This skill sometimes dismayed his parents. Legend has it when Wally was in college he didn't cash the checks his parents sent him and won a car in a poker game. Bolstered by a best-selling book on poker, Wally moved his family from Wilmington, Del., to Las Vegas in 1970. While his mother might not have approved of his career choice she was proud to point out that the hands on the jacket cover holding the winning cards belonged to her son.
Somewhat eccentric, what genius isn't? His brothers would affectionately say "Don't expect Wally to show up until you see the whites of his eyes."
He founded the International company Neo-Tech that made him a very wealthy man and spurred on the success of his kids Ruth, Wallace and Frank. He loved his kids so much he used the pen name Frank R. Wallace.
In recent years he was blessed with many grandchildren that he also loved very dearly. And just last October he celebrated 20 years of marriage to his lovely wife Rosa Maria. Wally loved Rosa Maria very much and adopted her son Tony as one of his own.
In recent years I was very lucky to join Uncle Wally and his wife Rosa Maria on some beautiful runs at Lake Mead, Red Rock Canyon and Sunset Park where I took this picture last summer. I say lucky because Wally was so dedicated to his work that he rarely took a break to smell the roses. He was a big fan of my adventure run photo journals which many of you have seen. He said he especially liked the captions. Just last week he emailed me that he wanted to go jogging on one of these picturesque trails but sadly that never came to pass.
We will all miss Uncle Wally, father, husband, grandfather, uncle, friend, scientist, businessman, jogger and in opposition to my culinary tastes Wally considered himself a meatetarian.
Happy Trails Uncle Wally, we'll see you somewhere down the line.
2 comments:
this is beautiful. this should be his obituary in your LV newspaper, if another family member hasn't already written one. i'm really sorry for your loss, ham.
love,
amy
I was very sad to hear about the GREAT loss of the man you knew as "Uncle Wally!" I hope it is ok that I'm intruding on your journal... I do it just to let you know how much & how many lives your Uncle did touch throughout his life.
Through his Neo-Tech writtings he has touched my life & transformed it so much for the better... that I will probably never know all the benefits that I've gained that wouldn't have been even possible had I never been exposed to his writtings... or had many countless others who also could have a positive influence on my life because of him without me even knowing it!!!
I don't believe I'm exaggerating when I say that he a lone has probably touched thosands, if not millions of peoples lifes... and literally put all of civilization on the
path to a brighter future than most today can even imagine! To many, who haven't read his writtings... it would be hard to believe that I would compare him to Jesus... But like Jesus he has a following of people who's lives he has transformed... Unlike Jesus... these people aren't sheep... He intentionally did his best to inspire others to become "self leaders," and to go out and create that better world that everyone is looking for. Like Jesus, I see "Wally" as the one man who may have inspired a turning point in history... a turning point in our life time that opens up the door for that wonderful future that we all have been dreaming of!
Please accept my gratitude on behalf of your Uncle, I will always treasure the priceless gifts of knowledge that he provided to me! For all those who are unfamiliar with his Neo-Tech work... all I can ask is, what are you waiting for?
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