Walter Black Obituary

Walter Eugene Black

July 10, 1931 - July 29, 2025

Walter Eugene Black, 94, of Bryan, Texas, went to be with the Lord on July 29, 2025.

"Walt" Black was born to Carl and Velma Black in Cambridge, Ohio, on July 10, 1931. He worked hard to maintain their small family farm until he graduated from high school in 1949, then found a job as a farmhand in nearby Lore City, sending money home to help with the upkeep. The course of his life was forever changed with the Korean War when, against his brother's advice, Walt enlisted in the U.S. Army for three years rather than waiting to be drafted for two. He was trained as a medic and sent overseas, where he drove an ambulance between his aid station and the MASH units, and was promoted to the rank of Staff Sergeant. Walt regretted his decision to enlist as he watched his army buddies return home after only two years, while he was stationed at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, for the remainder of his enlistment. Yet it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Beaumont Hospital had too many medics on hand, so Walt was assigned to work as a machine room operator. After his honorable discharge from the army, he worked the same tedious job at the El Paso Natural Gas Company, but in his spare time he read books and taught himself IBM computer programming. Walt was soon promoted from machine operator to computer programmer, which led to a successful 40-year long career at EPNG. It was in El Paso that Walt met and married Teresa Flores, and they had two daughters and a son. The most important moment of his life came in 1982, when Walt made the decision to follow Jesus Christ. Walt retired from EPNG in 1995, and they moved to Bryan, Texas, to be near their grandchildren. They loved their new home in the country, enjoying the simple pleasures of gardening and raising chickens. He would always describe those retirement years as the happiest he and Teresa had ever known.

Walt was preceded in death by his wife Teresa. He is survived by his sister Dorothy, children Marsha, Patricia, and Paul, five grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.