Capt. Walter W. Honour (Usn, Ret.)

Captain Walter Whitaker Honour USN (retired)
Captain Walter W Honour USN made final takeoff October 31, 2010. Born August 4, 1920, Orange NJ, son of Stanley/Carla Honour, he attended school in Waterford, NY, graduated 1937 from East Orange HS.
Walt studied at Newark College of Engineering, enlisted in Marine Corps, rose to corporal before accepting 1940 appointment to Naval Academy, where he played varsity soccer and basketball, graduated after 3-year war curriculum with class of 1944, BS in Engineering. He married Elaine Lillian Gibson in Newark the next day.
He joined USS Intrepid (CV-11) as Assistant Navigator and survived many combat engagements in the Pacific War, including direct hit on the ship by enemy aerial torpedo. He became a naval aviator on V-J day and served in various squadron and station tours in Guam, Atlantic City, Memphis, Patuxent, and Purdue University. After flying C-118’s across the Pacific, he was promoted to Commander and graduated from Army Command and General Staff College in 1959. He rose to be Commanding Officer of VP-18 flying P-2V’s in Jacksonville, supporting the Mercury space program and the Cuban missile crisis, and then Commanding officer of VP-30 training P-5M seaplanes, P-2V’s and introducing the P-3 to the Navy. He followed with Executive Officer on USS Boxer and then Pentagon Navy staff. Captain Honour then commanded USS Pawcatuck (AO-108) before becoming Commodore Fleet Air Wing 11 at NAS Jacksonville. Back in the Pentagon, he earned dual Master degrees at George Washington University. He retired from a distinguished career after 35 years with 15 awards including Joint Service Commendation Medal and Meritorious Service Medal.
Captain Honour had a successful second career as Chief of Bioenvironmental Services for Duval County where he influenced stopping sewage into the St Johns and reducing pulp mill odors. In retirement he consulted, traveled, built three houses, wrote books, and played a lot of golf. After 54 years of marriage, Elaine passed on. He married Bobbie Sue Blanchard Miller in 1998. Over 12 years, they built friends in Jacksonville and in Mountain Glen, NC.
Walt found peace after three years of battling a heart attack. In inimitable style, the attack came while making an unusual par on the hardest hole on the golf course. He was predeceased by first wife Elaine, son Walter Jr and daughter Melanie (Jim) Metzger. He is survived by wife Bobbie Sue, sons Craig (Sherry), Eric (Elizabeth), and Stephen, 7 grandchildren and 8 great grandchildren.