Arthur Davenport (Pete) Wall Jr

 

Greetings to Friends of Pete Wall,

 

I am his son, Arthur D. Wall III, who my parents named “Dave”.  I am writing on behalf of my father, whose formal name was Arthur Davenport Wall Jr. 

 

I had heard from my Uncle, Earl Herndon Jr., from Seneca, S.C., that Mr. Joel Porcher, from Charleston, S.C., had made a contribution in Dad’s name to the new Academic Success Center at Clemson University to remember his deceased classmate.  Our family was honored for that recognition.  Joel asked me to prepare a short biography of Pete Wall to share with his friends, and I appreciate that opportunity.  My family is grateful for you to remember him.

 

Pete Wall was a devoted husband, father, Republican patriot, naval officer, sportsman and naturalist.  He was an idealist and rugged individualist who embraced Libertarian ideals tempered with belief in the merit of order, and the order of meritocracy.

 

Pete was proud of the vocational training and educational opportunities promoted in South Carolina, holding up the state as a model for the rest of the nation.  Pete would be especially proud of Clemson’s Academic Success Center.  He too was a Clemson Tiger football player who had to manage the demands of successful athletic and academic programs.  Dad was a diehard Tiger fan who was proud that Clemson insisted on academic success for their athletes, unlike many other schools who watered down their standards.  The only graffiti that he ever approved of was orange tiger paws on the highway.

 

Some of you may remember my Mom’s brother, Earl Herndon Jr., who was the Clemson Tigers Football Team Student Manager during the mid-1950s.  My Uncle brought Pete home to have a home-cooked meal at his parent’s house in Fountain Inn, S.C., whereupon he was introduced to my mother, Earl’s sister, Polly Anne Herndon. That’s where it all started for me.

 

Pete joined the Navy after graduation from Clemson.  He went to Naval Officer Candidate School in Indian Head, MD, and married my mother in the spring of 1956.  I was their firstborn, in July 1957, my sister, Jennifer, was born in September 1958, and my brother, Michael in June 1962.  Pete was reassigned regularly while serving as a line officer in the Navy, which over a span of 17 years took his family to Panama City, FL, Norfolk, VA., Ankara, Turkey, Bremerton, WA, Pacifica, CA, and Rockville and Frederick, MD.

 

Pete was devoted to his family, but Navy life kept him away much of the time.  When he was home he liked to play with his kids and take the family on frequent outings.  Most every year we found time to go camping in an exotic place, usually near good fishing holes.  In the fall and winter he taught us how to hunt.  He was a steward of the wild lands and supported wetland preservation.  He enjoyed bird hunting, especially for ducks.

 

We lived in Pacifica, CA, from 1969 to 1971, where Pete was Executive Officer of a WESTPAC ship.  During that time he developed brittle diabetes at 37 years old.  He was assigned a desk job at the Atomic Energy Commission in Gaithersburg, Md., and began the first years of full-time family life.

 

In 1971 we moved to Rockville, Md., and then to Frederick, Md., in 1973, because Dad disliked the Washington D.C. suburbs and thought we would all do better out in the country.  In Frederick we hunted pheasant and rabbit in our two-acre “yard” and surrounding fields, and could get up into the mountain backcountry easily from our house.  Despite an attempt at new beginnings, my parents went their separate ways in 1974.

 

Pete continued to work at the Atomic Energy Commission in Maryland for a couple of years, and then moved to Tennessee to work at the Oak Ridge Laboratory.  He served, I believe, 22 years as a Naval Officer, retiring as a Lt. Commander, around 1978 in Kingston, Tennessee.  Pete was happily re-married for the last years of his life to Janice Wall.  He enjoyed life by the lake, boating, fishing, hunting and being alternately lazy and busy around the house and pool that he had built, and “finished” himself. 

 

Unfortunately, his health deteriorated during retirement.  Pete had an unusual type of diabetes that he inherited, even though he got plenty of exercise and was not obese.  At the age of 37 he got the type of diabetes inherent to children and teenagers.  He succumbed 11 years later at the age of 48 to his “Type 1”, insulin-dependant, “brittle” diabetes that was very hard for him to control.

 

He died of heart failure in the early morning of December 20^th, 1981.  Pete was buried at the National Cemetery in Knoxville, TN, in one of the few remaining graves.

 

I was especially proud of the heritage he gave me for the love of those things wild.  I enjoy the wilderness and it’s bounty, and being out in nature is my favorite pastime. 

 

I wish that Pete could be here to be with his grandchildren.  I am convinced that despite his absence, the love that brought him here and sustained him still remains.  I think of him as watching over us, as always.  His love and wisdom still emanate through his children and grandchildren.

 

Thank you again for remembering Pete Wall, from Charleston, S.C, who lived from March 16^th, 1933 to December 20^th, 1981.