WILLIAM P. WALTON, III, OCEAN TOWNSHIP, NJ, AND ORIENT – William P. Walton, III, age 74, of Orient, Maine, and formerly Ocean Township, NJ, died on April 28, 2018, in Bangor. He had lived in Asbury Park and then moved to the Wayside section of Ocean Township, NJ, in 1972 and in 2006, upon his retirement, he and his wife moved their residence to the willy-wags of northern Maine, in the small town of Orient. After the death of his wife in 2015, he moved permanently to Orient, ME.
Born in Trenton, NJ, Bill grew up in Asbury Park, graduated from Asbury Park’s Bond Street School and the Asbury Park High School, then St. Lawrence University (B.S. 1965), Canton, NY, and the American AcademyMcAllister Institute of Funeral Service (1966), New York City.
Having grown up as the only son of a funeral director and living in a funeral home, Bill became a licensed funeral director. After his father’s death he owned and operated both the former Farry Memorial Home in Asbury Park and the Ocean Grove Memorial Home until he sold the funeral home and retired in 2005. He had been a member of the National Funeral Directors’ Association, the NJ State Funeral Directors’ Association, the Funeral Directors’ Association of Monmouth and Ocean Counties, serving as its president in 1975. He had been associated with the National Selected Morticians, more recently known as Selected Independent Funeral Homes, between 1966 and when he retired.
Mr. Walton had been an active member of the Rotary Club of Asbury Park between 1966 and 2006 and had served as its president in 1973-74. He had been named a Paul Harris Fellow and after his move to Maine, he became a member of the Rotary Club of Houlton between 2007 and 2011.
He was a member and past president of The Wheelman Club of Asbury Park and was recognized by his peers as a Certified Hearts Master. He was also an accomplished backgammon player.
He was formerly a member of the Asbury-Jordan Lodge No. 142, Free and Accepted Masons, Neptune between 1976 and 2009. When he moved to Maine, he became a member of Monument Lodge No. 96, A.F. & A.M., Houlton, ME.
As a youth, he attained the rank of Eagle Scout in Troop 91 of Allenhurst and had a longtime association with the Monmouth Council Boy Scouts of America. As a youth he worked three years as a leathercraft counselor at the council’s summer camp in Forestburg, NY. He later served the council as its Camping Committee Chairman for more than nine years. He was an awardee of the Silver Beaver Award and was elected to Vigil membership in the Na Tsi Hi Lodge, Order of the Arrow. He was also associated with Troop 76 of Wayside for several years while his son was a scout.
Bill was an avid life-long ice hockey fan and was an organizing founder of the former Jersey Shore Hockey League, Bricktown. He was a fan of Le (Bleu, Blanc et Rouge) Habitants and in the summer switched his interest to the Bronx Bombers.
He was a hunter, a bass and salmon fisherman, and a moving target shooter. He was a life member of the National Rifle Association and the National Skeet Shooting Association. He was a longtime member of the American Trapshooting Association, the New Jersey State Skeetshooting Association and competed for many years in skeet tournaments from Maryland to Connecticut. He was a long-time member and officer of the Wayside Skeet Club, Wayside, the former Earle Shooter’s Club, NWS Earle and was a life member of the Farmingdale Trap Club. Most recently, he was a member of the Presque Isle Fish and Game Association and a life member of the Calais Rod & Gun Club, both in Maine. He was a champion of the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
Bill was an avid Macintosh computer user and advocate since that computer’s introduction in 1984. He had developed his own funeral home management software and he built and maintained internet websites for his funeral home, the Woodie Wheaton Land Trust and his own website, www.ChipLakeNEWS.org. He also wrote a weekly electronic newsletter, the ChipLakeNEWS, from 2001 until his death.
In 2011 he became interested in carving cedar logs and became prolific in designing and carving and painting fireplace logs, rustic cedar log lamps and various other household furniture items, all with a wildlife motif.
He was a charter member of the Chiputneticook Lakes International Conservancy, Inc., a lake association headquartered in Orient, Maine and had served as one of its directors, its Membership Chairman and most recently was its Treasurer for many years. He was a director for many years, and the Treasurer between 2004 and 2011 for the Woodie Wheaton Land Trust in Forest City, ME, and had maintained its membership database between 2002 and 2011 acknowledging all financial donations during that time. He was also a member of the Aroostook Riders ATV Club.
With his daughter and son-in-law, he and his wife owned and operated the Million Dollar View Restaurant in Weston, Maine, for several years in the late 1990s.
He is survived by a son, John David and his wife, Rachel (née Mizrahi) of Ocean, two daughters, Jill Plummer and her husband, Buck, of Brookton, Maine, and Cynthia Lynne Vellinga and her husband, Chris, of Brick, NJ; as well as two grandsons, Ben and Sam Plummer and two granddaughters, Victoria and Alexa Walton. He was predeceased by his wife of 48 years, the former Heather (née Ferguson).
An informal gathering to celebrate Bill’s life will be held from 3:00-7:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 3, 2018, at Bowers Funeral Home, 10 Water Street, Houlton, ME. Friends may also call on Saturday, May 12, 2018, from 1:00-4:00 p.m. at the Ocean Grove Memorial Home, 118 Main Avenue, Ocean Grove, NJ. All are welcome to attend, and friends are encouraged to share a remembrance. In lieu of flowers, a contribution in Bill’s name to the Monmouth Council Boy Scouts of America, 705 Ginesi Road, Morganville NJ 07751; the Woodie Wheaton Land Trust, 2 Grove Road, Forest City, ME 04413; CLIC, the lake association in Orient, ME; or to your favorite charity, would be appreciated. For an online memory book, please visit www.bowersfuneral.com
