Charles Walter

Charles "Chuck" Walter passed away on September 21, 2024. On September 18, during his daily, probably overly vigorous, workout, his heart stopped efficiently pumping blood. Chuck was found unresponsive by the love of his life, best friend and wife, Georgia, within a minute of apparently laying on the floor to recover. Georgia continued CPR for 11 minutes until paramedics took over her efforts. Paramedics were unable to revive him after a 30-minute effort; however, when they stopped actively working on him, he began breathing again and survived in the hospital for three more days with life-supporting measures.

Chuck was born to Harold and Ione Walter on May 19, 1951. He grew up on the 80-acre family farmstead on West Lane in Billings, Montana with his older brothers, Alan and Ron. On the farm, Chuck learned how to work hard. Anyone that knew Chuck quickly learned of his ability to work. He earned the nickname, "Jet Walter," at one of his first jobs at the Billings Heights Body Shop, once located at the bottom of the Airport Hill in the Billings Heights. After graduating from Billings West High School in 1969, he married Georgia Yerger and began studying business at Eastern Montana College. Jason was born to Chuck and Georgia in 1971 followed by Brandon in 1973. After his graduation from Eastern in 1974, Chuck was hired by the Billings Exxon Refinery where he worked a 33-year career, promoting through the ranks to retire in 2007 as a Section Supervisor. Chuck loved his work and continued to teach new employees at Exxon, until he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in March of 2020. While the blood cancer that he developed was a particularly aggressive form of multiple myeloma, the chemotherapy treatments provided him with a nearly comfortable remission; however, the drugs also weakened his already enlarged heart.

While Chuck loved his career, he always put his family first, never missing a sports event, vacation, camping trip, or picnic with all of his or Georgia's beloved parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins in attendance. Chuck always made an effort to make all the people that he met feel included and always assumed the best of everyone, leading to many lifetime friendships that he cherished. Chuck was the most honest person known to his family and as one of his lifelong friends put it, "If there is a better guy in this world than Chuck, we haven't met him."

The family would like to particularly thank Dr. Noah Marks, a local orthopedic surgeon that treated Chuck's shoulder injury, for diagnosing Chuck's multiple myeloma after almost a year of "something is not right" complaints to other doctors went virtually ignored. Chuck's family got to have him for extra years because of Dr. Marks and Chuck's cancer treatment teams in Seattle and Billings.

Chuck is survived by his best friend and wife, Georgia, sons Jason (Phillip) Walter-Dulion and Brandon (Kim) Walter, granddaughter Madison (Madeline) Walter-Duke, grandson Tate Walter, brother Ron (Sallie) Walter, brother Alan (Mary) Walter, sister-in-law Ruby Moore, brother-in-law Vernon West, nephews Darwin (Leslie) West, Dale West, Ron (Susie) Moore, David (Lorele) Walter, Randy (Terry) Moore, Jeremy Walter, nieces Pam (Casey) Dorrell and Stephanie Walter, aunt Ruth Armstrong, uncle Ken (Barb) Walter, and many additional beloved cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends. Chuck was preceded in death by his parents, Harold and Ione Walter, father-in-law and mother-in-law George and Helen Yerger, sister-in-law Judy West, and brother-in-law Lyle Moore.

Chuck's Memorial will be held at the Billings Hilton DoubleTree on Saturday, September 28, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. in the third floor ballroom.