Margaret and Walter as the two oldest went out and found jobs. His younger siblings Michael and June joined soon after leaving the youngest Grant, to play with the neighbour kids during the summer and then school for the youngest three during the school year.
When Walter wasn’t working he went to night school to get his GED in law enforcement. He gained honours and was picked up immediately by the military. He sent money home until his sister June married well leaving him to start investing his money.
His career in the Marine Corps skyrocketed with his dedication to his country and he took a big interest in weaponry after being awarded the Purple Heart in Viet Nam. He retired soon after in ’92 as a Major General in the Marines with many metals to atone for his bravery and leadership.
Walter continued with his hobby of tinkering in weaponry and gadgets. He liked to think of himself as Queue, James Bond’s wonder gadget man. He had the gadget for any job no matter what. He hired out his services to train people to use weaponry but never asked as to why they were learning. He had learned in his military career not to ask questions. He never asked where the money was coming from or where his weapon shipments came from.
In his spare time he was with his two kids Kate and James. Kate was born out of wedlock when he was 42 from a one-night stand. He wanted to do right by Kate’s mother but she refused only because she was a bra-burning feminist. He supported Kate nonetheless all the way from infancy and up to graduation and even after until her marriage a year after graduation, in ’99.
His son James was born five years after Kate. He and his only wife Elizabeth were married exactly nine months to the day of James’s birth. Elizabeth died in a car accident when James was five leaving Walter to raise James. Two years later Walter got a call from a seven yr.old Kate saying that her mother was drunk and smoking something funny and she wanted to come live with him. Five months later Walter had full custody of Kate. Less that a year later he had to send the kids to his brother, Grant, across town when he was called into the Gulf War.
A week after landing overseas he was captured and became a P.O.W. for two months, almost the whole duration of the war. When he arrived back home his children preferred to stay with their uncle and cousins. Walter understood and let the children stay.
A month upon his return he received a letter from his mother’s lawyers telling him that he was a millionaire. His parents had invested in stocks in the 40’s that had skyrocketed. Walter made college funds for his children then put the rest in a bank in Zurich, Switzerland where all his later funds ended up.
In ’98 he got wind that an adventurer was looking for funding to look for Atlantis, the Lost Continent. Walter being a little of an adventurer at heart contacted this adventurer after all preparations for the expedition had been made and found his adventurer to be a woman, a young one at that.
She arrived to find the team assembled and paid for anonymously. Walter chose to keep his money a secret from the rest of the team, owning that he wanted to be treated like everyone else not some rich man.