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Remembering Dave Walter
Montana: The Magazine of Western History, Autumn 2006
Dave Walter stands in the finest tradition of the humanities, for he led us to critical thinking about ourselves in a manner that was so gentle and so effective and so important.
Margaret Kingsland
Executive Director, Montana Committee for the Humanities, 1974-1995, Missoula, Montana
I met Dave Walter in 1998 when I attended my first Montana Heritage Project Winter Conference at the Montana Historical Society. Knowing just a few of the teachers and none of the historical society staff, I registered only a few fleeting names as I shook hands all around.
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But Dave Walter made a significant impression. The casual professional with a blue shirt and tie, rolled-up sleeves, and a notepad on his knee, Dave sat in the back of the room and spoke only when addressed. He listened attentively to the teachers' presentations of their students' research and then praised each, saying, "You are, of course, the experts on local history."
Ever the peer, and never-yet always-the expert himself, Dave Walter made the historical society a visible, viable, and very accessible resource for all. He taught us to probe even the smallest details in primary documents, and he showed us how to pursue the most obscure story with reverent delight. Quietly charismatic, with an open eye for contradiction, for irony, for the darkly humorous side of human nature, Dave Walter also demonstrated in his writing the utmost respect for the way human beings have come into conflict with their environments and with each other.
Dave would occasionally come to schools as a representative of the Montana Committee for the Humanities Speakers Bureau. While the presentations were always formal, his personal interactions, his questions directed to the students, and his eruptive laughter betrayed a true respect and affection for young people.
On one such visit, students were working in the library, and Dave and his wife Marcella entered the room, sat down, and began to ask them about their projects. Soon other circles drifted and expanded into one, with Dave and Marcella as part, not center. Students later commented, "Dave had that big smile and was really interested in us. He said, 'You're doing a great thing' and we knew he meant it."
But Dave Walter's interest in the students didn't stop at day's end. In 2000, after talking with three young women regarding their research into the 1904 Fort Shaw Indian girls basketball team, Dave returned to Helena. A week later, a large manila envelope arrived in the mail. It held copies of every relevant newspaper article in the historical society's archives. And then he celebrated their accomplishments by attending and sometimes providing a greeting at community heritage fairs and the annual Youth Heritage Festival in Helena. When one of those young researchers read of his passing, she called her mother and said, "He was the nicest man. It wasn't all about history. Every time he talked to us, he would ask about our basketball season. He cared about us, not just the project."
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