Walter Ernest Crouch

What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.

Obituary

Walter Ernest Crouch II, a devoted husband, loving father, and a man of vast intellect and integrity, passed away on May 23rd, 2025, ten days after his beloved wife, Jane Margaret Holcroft Crouch. Walter was 79 years old.

Born March 3rd, 1946, at Gorgas Hospital in the Panama Canal Zone, Walter was the third of seven children and the only boy born to Harlan and Georgia Crouch. He attended schools on both the Atlantic and Pacific sides of the Canal Zone Isthmus and graduated from Balboa High School.

In 1966, Walter enlisted in the Navy, spending time in the Mediterranean on the USS "Aldebaran," which was stationed out of Norfolk, Virginia. On weekend passes, Walter would often visit his teenage sweetheart, Jane, in Boston, Massachusetts. After their long relationship, he and Jane married in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Jane left the States and lived with Walter’s family in Coco Solo, Canal Zone, until Walter was honorably discharged from the Navy in 1970. Then, he and Jane built their lives in Panama, starting their family in Gamboa, Canal Zone. They were blessed with five sons: Harlan Pitzer II (who preceded Walter and Jane in death), Guthrie Travis, Walter Ernest III, Chad Arthur, and Olin Jonsson.

Walter served with the Canal Zone Water Division and completed an apprenticeship on the steam dredge "Cascadas," ultimately becoming a Chief Engineer on the Dredging Division tugboats. Eventually, the family moved to Los Rios, Canal Zone, and then on to Safety Harbor, Florida, to await Walter’s Canal Zone retirement. After retiring, Walter started a family exotic wood business, Cocobolo Inc., selling beautiful wood to expert woodworkers. He was an expert woodworker himself.

Walter was very passionate, filled with integrity, patriotic, a profound thinker, and a prolific reader who read many ancient philosophers like Aristotle and was a staunch admirer of Ayn Rand (both her fiction and non-fiction novels). He possessed a brilliant mind and would share his vast knowledge on the subject of philosophy, the state of America, vitamins, and alternative health practices with his loved ones. He often knew more than many professionals he encountered.

Walter is survived by his sons Guthrie, Walter, Chad, and Olin; Guthrie’s wife Michele and their children Leslie and Samantha; Chad’s wife June and their children Kaitlyn, Kimberly, and Kristen; Olin’s children, Sonny, Kathleen, and Rosie; Caroline and Harlan’s son Harlan III; his Crouch sisters, Kathleen, Joan, Ruth, Alice Marian, and Anne; sister-in-law Nancy Holcroft; many nephews and nieces; cousins; an uncle; an aunt; Mason brothers; friends, family, and loved ones.

Walter is greatly missed.

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Harlan Crouch

Georgia Crouch

Jane Crouch

Kathleen Sattler 

Ruth Maddox 

Harlan Pitzer III

Guthrie Travis

Walter Ernest III

Chad Arthur

Olin Johnsson

Marian Ange

Joan Looker

Alice Calvo

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Kathleen Sattler 

Ruth Maddox 

Marian Ange

Joan Looker

Alice Calvo

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Jane Crouch

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Harlan Pitzer III

Guthrie Travis

Walter Ernest III

Chad Arthur

Olin Johnsson

Walter Crouch

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