Pat is the Oral Historian for the Grout Museum District.
It was probably appropriate Larry Walters was laid to rest by his friends on a windy day. All the flags at the Iowa Veterans Cemetery seemed to stand at attention, shoulders to the wind and completely unfurled, in tribute to a guy who stood tall and proud in his service, in and out of uniform. And the gray clouds gave way as the cemetery's gardens of stone were drenched in sunlight.
History recently came to life across 6,100 miles for children of U.S. military personnel at a school in Japan - courtesy of the Grout Museum District and the granddaughter and grandniece of five Waterloo brothers killed during World War II, Kelly Sullivan.
The Grout Museum District has received word that a real friend of the District, and of veterans, Vietnam veteran Larry Walters of Cedar Falls, has passed away after a long battle with dementia.
Some folks in Waterloo may not have known Jack. But Jack Hovelson definitely knew Waterloo like the back of his hand. And he loved it.
Let's kick off Black History Month remembering an unsung American hero, a great Iowa Hawkeye, important Green Bay Packer and maybe the only NFL player to have a ship in our nation's armed forces named for him.
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