Walter T. Fay
November 4, 1925-November 6, 2017
Walter Fay passed peacefully in his home, after his 92nd birthday gathering spent with family and loved ones, during which he expressed his love to all before going peacefully into the good night.
He was born in Milford MA, the second son of Horace Daniel and Annie (True) Fay, and grew up in Upton MA. In 1944, he joined the Army and trained in the Infantry Heavy Weapons Division until a training accident, when he was reassigned to Oliver General Hospital and became a medical technician. He used to grin and say, “I was the only person in the Medical Corp to have an expert rating on the mortar.” Following Honorable Discharge in 1946, he married Emily C. Lapham of Dartmouth MA on her family farm.
He attended Boston University and graduated as a bacteriologist. As a highly respected scientist, he ran a clinical laboratory for 26 years until he retired in 1974. He was a steam engine enthusiast who spent many weekends at steam meets across New England, and eventually became the Director of the Wireless and Steam Museum in Rhode Island.
We will remember him as; an engaging storyteller who, with his brother Dan, would entertain all with stories of their pranks and capers as boys growing up in “Small Town USA” during the 30’s; a wise and patient patriarch who never complained (“I’m doing well, all things considered”); a self-deprecating humorist (“I’m only 5’18”); and a non-vexed advocate for his great granddaughter (“Oh, let her do gymnastics in my living room, she won’t break anything!”)
His great enjoyments were; converting the barn into his home with the help of his son Brad; traveling with his son Peter, going to steam meets with his daughter Ninabeth; cheering or cursing the Red Sox and the Patriots with his friend Al; staying current with recent medical and scientific advances; weekly family dinners (where he never ate his vegetables but always ate dessert); reading and bragging about his children, his son-in-law, his grandchildren and Kya True, who cartwheeled her way deep into his heart in 7 short years.
He was a generous, kind, gentle giant of a man who believed his children could do anything they wanted in life and a devoted husband of 64 years. He will be greatly missed by his son Peter Fay, his daughter, Ninabeth Fay-Butler and her husband Bob Butler, grand-daughters Caitlin True Fay and Annabella Fay, and his great grand-child and shining light, Kya True Fay.
He was predeceased by his brothers, Charles A., and Norman D. (Dan); his son, Brad B., and wife, Emily C. (Lapham).
In lieu of flowers please make a donation in Walter’s memory through the New England Wireless and Steam Museum web page.