Walter Lee Greer

Walter Lee Greer passed away on peacefully on October 27, 2025 in Conroe, Texas. Walter was born in Birmingham, Alabama on September 22, 1936, to Mary Elizabeth (North) Greer and Dupree Holder Greer. They were joined by the birth of a girl, Barbara Elizabeth, on February 28, 1939. Theirs was a loving family that struggled economically along with most other people through the end of the Great Depression.

After 1940, they lived with Walter’s widowed maternal grandmother, Ida North, in Birmingham. Dupree was one of the first architects licensed in Alabama and Elizabeth taught Home Economics in local grade schools. Walter attended the public schools of Birmingham. While attending Hemphill Grammar School, he had a traditional paper route for the Birmingham Post. He delivered or “threw” 100 papers a day from his bicycle. Walter made about seven dollars a week from his route while attending grammar school. In part, he used these earnings to pay his way to the 1950 National Boy Scout Jamboree in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. He was double promoted twice in grammar school which put him out of physical and social sync with his classmates. Walter attempted high school athletics but because of his relatively small size and youth, he was unable to meet performance standards. Consequently, he became the well-respected student manager of the football, basketball, and track teams at West End High School. His academic achievements were notable while working long hours in the athletic department. He was inducted into the Junior and National Honor Societies. Walter was active in the Presbyterian Youth Fellowship at the Old First Presbyterian Church. He also was very active in the Boy Scouts having achieved the Webelos award as a Cub and the rank of Eagle Scout. In recognition of all this activity, Walter once was designated as a Teen of the Week for the metropolitan area by The Birmingham News.

Walter entered Auburn University (then known as Alabama Polytechnic Institute) before his 17th birthday to study architecture and to follow his father. However, he soon recognized his talents were elsewhere and diverted to chemical engineering. Walter graduated in 1958 with a BS degree in that discipline. While at Auburn, he belonged to the Lambda Chi Alpha social fraternity and served as its ritualist. Walter voluntarily participated in four years of ROTC training and after graduation was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Signal Corps.

Immediately thereafter, Walter went to Ft. Monmouth, New Jersey for Basic Officer Training where he was subsequently recognized as the Honor Graduate of his class. After additional training, he was assigned to Fort Gordon, Georgia where he progressed rapidly from a VHF Radio team leader to adjutant of the 40th Signal Battalion. Upon discharge from active duty after two years of service, Walter voluntarily served in the Army Reserve with pleasure and distinction for over six years wherein he achieved the rank of Captain before discharge. Although his contributions to the defense of the United States were small and non-combat related, he was proud to have served his country.

In 1960, Walter commenced work at the Birmingham plant of one of the largest portland cement manufacturing companies in the nation, Lone Star Cement Corporation. His starting position was as a Chemist. In 1962 he was transferred to the Bonner Springs, Kansas plant as the Assistant Plant Chief Chemist. In 1964, he was promoted to Plant Chief Chemist. About this time, the company became known as Lone Star Industries as it vertically expanded into aggregates and concrete. After 1969, he spent time at the Lone Star cement plant on the Houston ship channel as Assistant Plant Manager. In 1974, Walter returned to Bonner Springs and became Plant Manager of that facility.

While living in Nassau Bay in the early 1970s, Walter became one of the early Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) in Texas. He joined with several neighbors to establish and operate a full-time, volunteer ambulance service in the Nassau Bay Fire Department. Local doctors were skeptical but soon learned that emergency patients benefited from proper handling and transportation by trained personnel. Later, Walter helped to establish the Bonner Springs Kansas Ambulance Department as its Assistant Chief. He was a nationally registered EMT as well as in the states of Texas, Kansas, and Missouri.

In 1965, Walter Lee met and married his wife, Karen Kay Richie, who was a percussionist with the Kansas City Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1968, they had a son Walter Lindsey followed in 1970 by another son, James Dupree. Walter Lee is survived in Montgomery, TX by Walter Lindsey, his wife, Christie, and their children, Nathan and Cydney. He also is survived in Ft. Worth. TX by James Dupree, his wife, Mieke, and their children Peyton and Palmer. Walter Lee was preceded in death by his wife, his parents, his sister, and a granddaughter.

After 1979, Walter worked for Lone Star Industries in various line and staff jobs in Connecticut, Virginia, and Houston. He served the Portland Cement Association as Chairman of its Government Relations Committee. He resigned from Lone Star Industries in 1990 as Vice President of Environmental Services to join Ash Grove Cement Company as Vice President of Environmental Affairs. Walter remained in that position with Ash Grove until his initial retirement in 2000. He immediately went to work for Trinity Consultants, an environmental consulting firm, as a Senior Technical Associate. After six years there, he resigned and moved to Conroe, Texas as the retirement destination for Karen and him. He then went to work for the U.S. Department of Justice as a part-time expert witness until he finally retired completely in 2010. Walter was sad to note that the two cement companies for which he worked, no longer exist and the three cement plants at which he worked have been torn down.

Walter maintained an interest in scouting while serving as a Cubmaster and a Scoutmaster at appropriate times in the lives of his sons who both became Eagle Scouts. Walter was a Rotarian having served as the President of the Bonner Springs Rotary Club and having received recognition as a Paul Harris Fellow. He attended the Graduate School of Business at the University of Missouri Kansas City. Walter enthusiastically supported Karen’s musical career however necessary until she died in 2021. She was a long-time member of the Conroe Symphony Orchestra. Walter continued his support of the orchestra after her death. He was a member of the Board of Directors for the West Fork HOA on two occasions.

Walter was a lifelong Republican. However, in 1962, his move to Republican Kansas from Democratic Alabama taught him an abiding lesson. Republicans, as well as Democrats, can be crooks. Among his regrets for dying at this time is that he won’t be alive to witness the collapse of the flawed Global Climate Change movement.

A Celebration of Life Service will be held at Metcalf Funeral Home in Conroe, Texas at 10 AM on Friday November 7, 2025. Visitation will take place at 9 AM and burial at the Houston National Cemetery at 1 PM.

Contributions may be sent to the Conroe Symphony Orchestra in lieu of flowers.