Captain Walter James Wallis died on Tuesday, March 3, 2026. He was raised in Southern California by his loving parents, Dr. Earl and Mrs. Betty Wallis. He met his future wife, Jennie Kathleen Smith as a teenager and remained smitten with her for the rest of his life.

Walt spent twenty-four years as a Naval officer and packed a lot of experiences into those years with his wife and family living on the East Coast, West Coast, Japan, Hawaii, and Switzerland. He and his wife Jennie Kathleen picked up each of their four children from a different cabbage patch. His children attended about a dozen schools throughout their educational years due to military moves and then his retirement.

After Walt's retirement from the Pentagon at age 45, he gave up smoking, packed up his wife, house, kids and dog and set off for a new adventure in Washington State. He worked hard and spent his days remodeling the houses they lived in and building a few houses later. During this time, he started referring to Jennie Kathleen as "She who must be Obeyed".

Through the years his children grew up, sought higher education, travel, married, had children, lived their lives with frequent visits, phone calls and retreats to the family cabin in Leavenworth.

As newlyweds, Walt and Jennie lived in Queen Anne Hill in Seattle and made day trips up and down the Puget Sound. On a whirlwind trip to Whidbey Island, they decided they wanted to retire there when the time came. On their 35th wedding anniversary, they moved out of their house in Anacortes and started building their dream house on Moran Road, just east of West Beach on Whidbey Island.

Just when Walt and Jennie Kathleen thought they would never have grandchildren, the grandchildren started coming and they loved all eight of them. In December 2024, their first great-grandchild was born.

As with most families, losses happened, but Walt and Jennie Kathleen persevered. They never limped through life. They couldn't, they were surrounded with friends and family who loved them.

Walt is survived by Jennie Kathleen, his wife of 64 years. His son Mark and wife Eileen of Accra, Ghana. Daughters, London, with her husband Craig, who travel and have no fixed address and Michelle and her husband Jason of Helena, Montana. Their youngest daughter Julia Wallis Smith predeceased them.

Walt lived a life of hard work, sacrifice, good decisions, laughter, travel, friends, dogs, and all of it enriched him, his family, their friends and their days. We are confident when we say, Walt did have it all.