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Ray D. Walton Jr., 92, surviving spouse of the Rev. Carolyn J. Walton, died April 8, 2013. A memorial service was held April 13 at Homewood in Damascus and Mountain View UMC, with his son, the Rev. Eric Walton, officiating.

Ray D. Walton Jr. was born Jan. 26, 1921, in Ogden, Utah, to the late Ray Dee Walton and Margaret Simpson Walton. He was raised in Portland, Ore., and received his bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering at Oregon State College in Corvallis.

Walton was a decorated U.S. Army veteran of World War II for his actions at Kakazu Ridge during the bloody 1945 battle for Okinawa. Around 13,000 Americans and over 100,000 Japanese were killed in the battle.

The wartime exploits of Ray Walton and other forward observers are the topic of a book, “Big Guns, Brave Men: Mobile Artillery Observers and the Battle for Okinawa,” to be released this spring by Naval Institute Press.

After the war, he returned to Oregon State and received a Master’s degree in chemical engineering. He then spent a half-century career as a nuclear engineer, primarily with the Atomic Energy Commission, later Dept. of Energy. His work was focused on the solidification and immobilization of liquid, high-level nuclear waste.

In 2005 he received the Wendell Weart Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Waste Management Symposia (the largest nuclear waste management meeting in the world).

He and Carolyn J. Smith Walton, whom he met at Oregon State, were married in 1944 and had six children. She died in January 1984.

She heard her calling to ministry after the children were grown, and entered seminary in 1970. She was ordained an Elder in 1976. While attending school she served Urbana, then Brentwood, a year each. In 1976 she was appointed to Mountain View UMC in Damascus and served there for three years, then a two year stint as Minister of Education at Woodside UMC, 1980-81. In 1982 she was appointed to Mountain View again and died unexpectedly in January 1984.

Walton's Christian faith remained central to his entire life from his college days as president of the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, to his active participation in his wife’s churches. For many years he was a member of the Trinity UMC in Germantown. In more recent decades, he belonged to Mountain View UMC, the church his wife served as pastor and where he met his second wife, Frances Crabill. Walton also travelled widely including three trips to the Holy Land. He enjoyed hunting and fishing as well.

Surviving are his wife of 16 years, Frances Crabill Walton of Homewood in Frederick, his daughter, Trudy Schwarz of Derwood; five sons, Rodney Walton of Miami, Fla., Scott Walton of Churchville, Md.; Eric Walton of Ballston Lake, N.Y., Kip Walton of Hartland, Mich., and Jim Walton of Irvine, Cal.; two step- sons: John C. Crabill of Martinsburg, W. Va. and J. Alan Crabill of Smithsburg; 10 grandchildren and six step-grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

Condolences may be sent to his son, Rodney E. Walton, 7985 S.W. 86^th St., Unit 430, Miami, FL 33143-7014. 

Memorial contributions may be made for the benefit of Mountain View UMC, 11501 Mountain View Road, Damascus, MD 20872-1607.