Edmund J. Walthers, 92, longtime resident of Medway, father of four and avid golfer, died February 2 in Glen Cove, N.Y., where he had been living in his later years with his twin sister, Ellen Blue.
The husband of the late Joan P. Walthers, Ed and Joan raised their four children in Medway, Catherine, Teresa, Sidney, and Ed Jr.
Born in Hoboken, N.J., December 30, 1931, to the late Johanna (McCarthy) and Edward J. Walthers, Ed grew up in Baldwin, Long Island, with twin sister Ellen and siblings Lillian, Gladys and Arthur, now deceased. He graduated from Baldwin High School in 1949 and Hobart College, in 1953, where he was a member of both Kappa Beta Phi and Phi Phi Delta. He served in the U.S. Army from 1953 to 1955 as a Specialist in Field Artillery.
In 1955, he married Joan Berman, and moved from New York to Massachusetts where he worked for 41 years in industrial sales. In 1964, Ed and Al Corrado, also of Medway, opened Colonial Cleaning Center in Holliston. Ed was a silent partner but worked every Saturday at the dry cleaners until they sold the store in 1983. All Ed’s children also worked part-time at the cleaners.
Kicking off his lifelong love of golf, Ed started caddying at the age of 12 at Willowbrook Golf Club in Baldwin, sometimes carrying two bags, and giving his earnings to his mother “to help out.” He remembers caddying for actor Danny Kaye as well as gangster Frank Costello. He went on to play on the Baldwin High School and Hobart College golf teams.
Over the next decades, he played golf in 21 states as well as in Canada, Scotland, St. Martins, Martinique, and Puerto Rico. On a trip to Scotland with his wife Joan and friend Alice, a native of Scotland, Ed played at Turnberry and at St. Andrew’s, the birthplace of golf. While there, he played in a foursome with Sandra Day O’Connor. Unknown to Ed when he started play, her husband told Ed at one point she was a U.S. Supreme Court justice.
In another memorable golf experience, while on a cruise in Martinique, he was invited to play with Harry “Lighthorse” Cooper in a golf tournament. Cooper was the leading money winner of the PGA in 1939.
Ed’s competitive nature made him a top pinochle and bridge player. He loved playing Scrabble and almost any word game, joining both the recent trend playing Wordle and Connections each day. He was able to continue playing games and word challenges with his children and sister, even while enduring the discomforts of hospitals and rehabs during his final weeks. He told jokes as well as anyone and had a dry sense of humor, to the very last. At the hospital before his death upon being examined by the foot doctor, he told him: I have 10.
When his wife Joan of 41 years passed away in 1996, Ed married Alice Mahoney of Milford in 1998. After Alice passed away and after living more than 50 years in Medway, Ed moved to Florida in 2009. He met Judith Morgan, originally of Duluth, Minn., and continued playing golf and bridge and enjoying the warm weather of Sarasota. Judy and Ed remained close friends until his passing. In 2020, he moved back to New York to live with Ellen, his twin.
He was a member of the Medway Lions Club, Medway-Millis Investment Club (serving as president), the Newman Club at Hobart, Franklin Country Club and the Glen Ellen Country Club in Millis. In 1982, Ed was the Glen Ellen club champion.
He is survived by his children, Catherine Walthers and her husband David Kelliher of Martha’s Vineyard, Sidney Walthers Framson of Centerville, Teresa Walthers of Centerville, and Edmund Walthers Jr. and his wife, Marcia Da Costa, of Uxbridge; two grandchildren, Case Framson and James Kelliher; his sister, Ellen Blue; and many loving nieces and nephews.
Relatives and friends are invited to attend his funeral mass on Friday, February 9th, at St. Joseph’s Church, 151 Village St. in Medway, where he was a longtime parishioner, at 11 a.m. Burial will follow at St. Joseph’s Cemetery, also in Medway.
Calling hours will be held on Thursday, February 8, from 4 to 7 pm at the Ginley Crowley Funeral Home, 3 Barber St. in Medway (www.ginleyfunderalhomes.com).