de Korte

It’s been almost 50 years since I last saw Walter but his effect on my life was monumental. As a precocious, and somewhat wild, kid at the YMCA day camp, the infamous Camp Chippewa, Walter saw something in me and took me under his wing. He was my councillor and for each session I attended he would ask that I be given to him. During this time he exposed me important works of classical music, discussed literature with me, exposed me to the great philosophers, convinced my very hesitant parents to let me go to see “Hair” with him and to ride with him on his giant Harley Davidson. He sat and read Salinger to me and discussed the ideas of the Tibetan Book of the Dead one moonlit night, under an immense oak tree, sitting on a cedar rail fence. I was 12 ….. we laughed a lot, told jokes, loved Rock music as well as jazz and folk. He taught me how to think critically and instilled a sense of wonder in me that has lasted my whole life. I would not be the person I became had I not met him. How many people can say that they’ve had a true mentor in their lived, someone who radically changed the course of their lives ? Well, he was certainly mine. That is a certainty. In short, he was one of the most powerful and influential figures of my life. I will never forget him and the inexpressible gifts he gave my soul. I just stumbled across his obituary today and it has shaken me to the core. I will honour and treasure him to the day I die. There aren’t enough words. My name is Richard Warner. But he and Derek knew me as “Satch”. The other boys that were in his group in the Summer of ‘68 coined a name for our oddball troupe. We dubbed ourselves “Walter’s Weirdos”. This is one of those weirdos that will deeply cherish him until it’s time for me to pass on. God Bless you, Walter!