[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 83 (Thursday, June 4, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1327]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              HONORING THE MEMORY OF WALTER WYATT SHORTER

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. JO BONNER

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, June 4, 2009

  Mr. BONNER. Madam Speaker, the city of Camden and indeed the entire 
state of Alabama recently lost a dear friend, and I rise today to honor 
him and pay tribute to the memory of Walter Wyatt Shorter.
  For more than 50 years, Mr. Shorter dedicated his life to serving his 
country, church, family and career.
  Born in New York City, Mr. Shorter survived polio as a young child. 
In 1949, he graduated from the Fishburne Military Academy in 
Waynesboro, Virginia. He then enrolled in the Virginia Military 
Institute where he attained the rank of company commander of C Company 
and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry. He was commissioned as an 
officer in the Marine Corps and rose to the rank of captain where he 
admirably served his country on several military campaigns.
  Mr. Shorter continued his education and received a Master of Science 
in Pulp and Paper Science and Chemical Engineering from the University 
of Maine and was inducted into Tau Beta Pi and the Society of the Sigma 
Xi.
  Throughout his lifetime, Mr. Shorter was devoted to serving the 
community in the paper industry. He was a frontrunner in the 
development of recycled paper use in corrugated containers. He spent 21 
years working for Union Camp Corporation and held the positions of vice 
president and residential manager at the Prattville mill. He became 
president of MacMillan Bloedel, Inc. in 1978 and managed the successful 
expansion of MacMillan Bloedel in Pine Hill.
  Mr. Shorter served as national president of the Paper Industry 
Management Association, president of the Alabama State Chamber of 
Commerce, chairman of the Alabama Alliance of Business and Industry, 
director of the Fourdrinier Kraft Board Group and was a member of the 
Alabama Council on Economic Education.
  He had a genuine love for the people of Camden, serving as a 
volunteer for his church, local school systems and the J. Paul Jones 
Hospital. He served as a trustee for Huntingdon College, a Lay leader 
in the Episcopal Church and a member of the ``13'' in Montgomery. He 
also served on the boards of the First Alabama Bankshares, Jenkins 
Brick Corporation, and The Nature Conservancy of Alabama.
  Madam Speaker, Walter Wyatt Shorter dedicated his entire life to the 
service of others, all-the-while being a devoted husband, father to 
five children, and grandfather to 11 wonderful grandchildren.
  He will be missed by his family--his wife of 51 years, Gayle Prince 
Shorter; their children, Walter Wyatt Shorter Jr., Margaret Shorter 
Robinson, Mathew Peasley Shorter, John David Shorter, and Charles 
Christopher Shorter; his grandchildren, Mary Margaret Wadsworth, 
Samantha Glenn Shorter, Margaret Ashley Shorter, Emily Wyatt Shorter, 
Katherine Gibbs Shorter, Jackson Sean Ours, Olivia Grace Shorter, 
Noelle Elizabeth Shorter, Calder Christopher Shorter, Davis Troy 
Shorter, Maggie-Alisabeth Gayle Shorter; and his nephews, Jeffery 
Douglas and Edward Morfel--as well as the many countless friends he 
leaves behind. Our thoughts and prayers are with them all during this 
difficult time.

                          ____________________