Page created by: Sarah E. Drake

Wallace E. Lord Jr. was born on August 17, 1943 to Wallace and Ruth (Shubert) Lord.
He passed away peacefully in his home on December 16, 2020 surrounded by his wife and kids. Wally is the oldest of 8 siblings (John and Maggie Lord, Edwin and Christa Lord, Lynn Lord, Jim and Karen Schell, Steve and Kim Lord, Kathy and David Wilson and Robert Lord.) And from the stories we heard, each brother and sister had their own special relationship with our dad.
He graduated from Marysville High School in 1961, attended 2 years at Emporia State University Teacher’s College and served our country in the United States Navy for 4 years. It was during his time in the Navy that he met one of his best friends, Chuck Zimmer, and through that friendship met our mom, Deborah Zimmer. He was so proud to be a veteran and to be a member of the American Legion for 50 years.
He worked for 2 years at Union Pacific Railroad and spent 38 years at Tension Envelope where he later retired. However, his favorite job was working at the filling station where he got to see his friends and hand out tootsie rolls to all the kids that came to visit. We know our dad left his mark on so many people with his sense of humor, hard work, and gentle ways.
Wally and Debbie were married on March 26, 1969 and have been married for 51 years. They had the three of us, Rachel, Jacob and Sarah. Our family was his life. Papa Wally also has the sweetest granddaughter Ella Lord and a step grandson Abram Drake. Wally is so loved by his daughter-in-law Michelle and son-in-law Bryan. They both cherished his ornery spirit.
Wally loved coaching, watching, and playing sports. He was a huge K-State Wildcat and Chicago Bears fan. One of his favorite things to do was stress out watching games on TV and then call Jake afterwards to chat about the outcome.
He loved working on his Jeeps and tinkering around in the yard. He also loved spending summers on the Cape with the Zimmer clan.
Over the last several years, he took much pride in participating in the Helen Gold Race to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease research. He is the fearless leader of Team Wally.
If you knew our dad, you couldn’t help but love him so you can probably imagine how sad we are to be without him. Wally worked hard his whole life but was fully present in ours.
Despite living with Parkinson’s Disease for the last 17 years, he not only never complained, he also kept working hard, kept making us laugh, and kept loving us all. We find peace in knowing he can finally rest easy. To our dad, always keep your head up, we are so proud of you.