Walt graduated from Nazareth High School in 1942. He enlisted in the US Navy in 1943, serving during WWII. When he returned home, he used his GI Bill benefits to attend Lehigh University and then pursued a PhD in Education at Temple University with a research focus in physics. His first teaching assignment was in Belvedere, NJ, but he spent most of his professional career in the Colonial School District in Pennsylvania, first at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School and ultimately as the District Science Coordinator. After his retirement, the family moved to Selinsgrove, PA in 1992. In 2006, Walt and Sandra moved to Dorchester, MA to be closer to family.
He passed at home on February 24, 2024. A Celebration of Life was held at First Parish Milton (Unitarian Universalist), where he was a long-standing member on Sunday, March 10, which would have been his 99th birthday.