Walter "Bookie" Ebel Jr.

Bookie later co-owned and operated with his close friend and golfing partner, Dane Harris, and others, many notable night clubs in Hot Springs, including the famous Vapors Club, Belvedere Club, Ohio Club, White Front Club and Tower Club. In 1963, Bookie acquired part ownership of the Avanelle Motor Lodge (and Sirloin Room Restaurant) at Central and West Grand Avenues, which he co-owned with the Garland and John Ed Anthony family, and managed for approximately 30 years until his retirement in 1994. His desk in his office at the Avanelle included a prominently displayed plaque with the words: "The time to make friends is before you need them."

Bookie was an avid golfer and one of the top amateur players in the region during the 1940's and 1950's. He was a past medalist in the Arkansas State Amateur Golf Championship, and a member of a 4-man team from Hot Springs that won the Arkansas State Team Golf Championship. He won the Oil Belt Golf Championship in El Dorado in 1950 and 1952, as well as numerous Hot Springs city and club golf championships, the last in 1977 at age 55. He was a member of Hot Springs Country Club for over 70 years, and a daily participant in gin rummy games in the HSCC card room, which was named the "Ebel-Eisele Card Room" in 2014 in honor of Bookie and his best friend for over 90 years, Dr. Martin Eisele.

Bookie was a member of St. Luke's Episcopal Church and participated in numerous local community organizations during his career, including service on the Board of Directors of the Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce, Hot Springs Convention Bureau, Fifty for the Future and United Way. He also was instrumental with his wife Alyce in founding the Bridge House of Hot Springs, where he and his wife played duplicate bridge together for many years.

Bookie's family, including his wife Alyce, always came first. He is survived by his son, Walter M. Ebel III (Skip), of Little Rock, and daughter, Mary Lucinda Clifton (Cindy), and her husband, Joe, of Dallas, Texas; and three grandchildren and five great grandchildren, Joseph Clifton, Jr. (JJ) and his wife, Sharon, and their son, Trip, of San Rafael, California, Jeff Clifton and his wife, Jenny, and their sons, Cooper and Jack, of Dallas, and Meg Meyrowitz and her husband, Scott, and their sons, Sam and Ben, of Boynton Beach, Florida. He also is survived by a nephew, Ray Robinson and his wife, Marilyn, of Richland, Washington.