Person:Walter Boomhower (1)

Walter David Boomhower, Jr. was adopted by his maternal uncle and aunt, George and Lura (Slade) Foucher after the death of his mother, Ada Slade Boomhower in the great flu epidemic of 1918. When Walter's mother, Ada, died in the flu epidemic of 1918, he and his sister Blanche were taken in by Ada's sister Lura and her husband, George Foucher. In 1921 they formally adopted the two. Walter, Sr., after his marriage to Grace Gilman, came to get his children back from his sister-in-law. He was told it was too late. Walt was a carpenter by trade. During WWII he served as a gunner's mate on the USS Bandera in the South Pacific. He was never wounded although he saw a lot of action including an attack by a Kamikaze pilot. In the latter 1960's his luck ran out and he was in a car accident and lost his left arm. Unfortunately Walt was left handed so he had to learn to do everything with his right, except write. When he was in St. Francis de Sales grammar school the nuns had insisted that he write with his right hand. He was out of work for about a year, doing some painting or whatever could be done with one arm to earn some money, when George SLEEMAN, principal of Bennington High School, arranged to have him hired as an assistant to the Industrial Arts teacher, Kendall ADAMS. Walt didn't even have a high school diploma. George arranged for him to take the G.E.D. exam and he got his diploma. Eventually he took college courses that led to his teacher certification and he taught Building Trades in the Vocational Dept. of the then new Mt. Anthony Union High School. Walt and his students built four homes in the area which the School District sold for slightly above cost. Walt continued in this job until his retirement. Walt had smoked cigarettes and a pipe until he was in his 40's. He gave up the cigarettes and pipe but smoked an occasional cigar. In his 60's he started smoking cigarettes again and died of a massive heart attack at 69.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Ancestry.com. U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010. (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.Original data - Beneficiary Identification Records).

   Birth date: 7 Apr 1913 Birth place: Death date: 5 Sep 1982 Death place:

   http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=sse&db=vadeaths&h=4563142&ti=0&indiv=try&gss=pt

2.   Ancestry.com. U.S. World War II Navy Muster Rolls, 1938-1949. (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2011.Original data - Muster Rolls of U.S. Navy Ships, St).

   http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=sse&db=navymuster&h=27072927&ti=0&indiv=try&gss=pt