Donald L. Walton

Donald L. Walton
1912-2004

Born in Clinton on May 14, 1912 , Donald L. Walton lived on the family farm of parents Vernon and Mary Buell Walton until he met his lifelong love, Mary Bugg, on the walk to school. Don and Mary were married on Nov. 7, 1936 and decided to move to the country. They headed north, just a bit, to the small town of Killingworth . They were married for 67 years, raised three children and helped shape the roots of our small New England town. Walton's day job was as liaison between the sellers and buyers of oil products for the E.W. Saybolt Company in New Haven, until his retirement in 1977.

He may have worked on the docks during the day, but in his free time Don was outdoors in Killingworth. An avid hunter, Don raised his own coon hounds and bird dogs. Son-in-law Alan Chapman remembers times when Don would take the boys out bird hunting during the day, take a quick nap, and join up with the coon hunters at night.

Walton also got involved in the community. In 1942, what was essentially a men's club, decided the town needed its own fire company. So, in 1946 the first Killingworth Volunteer Fire Company was formed and Walton was named its Captain. They received no funding from the town so they raised their own money, built their own fire trucks and manned their own fire phones.

The Fire Company raised money with its Annual Fireman's Ball, one of the largest fund raisers in the area and considered the première social event of the year. The volunteers built their own fire trucks by cleaning and modifying used oil trucks. The Fire Company was able to purchase its first new fire truck in 1957.

Communicating a fire alarm was another hurdle so volunteers set up a community fire phone system. There were five fire phones set up across the town: Walton, Ray Burghardt and Frank Robinson had phones in their homes; there was one in the firehouse and one at Blifford's Store, now the Cloverleaf at the Route 80/81 circle. The agreement was that someone had to be on-call at one of the phones, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That system remained in place until 1968.

In 1950 Don's title was officially changed to Fire Chief. He remained Chief until 1955 when travel for his job took him away from town too often. Though he stepped down as chief, he remained a loyal volunteer for several more years. Don's legacy remains intact today with his family's commitment to the Company. Don's son David just received his 45-year pin; his grandson, Michael has been in the Company for 3 years and his son-in-law Alan will begin his 47 th year in August.

Don's community service was not limited to the Fire Company. He was on the first Board of Directors for the Killingworth Land Conservation Trust and served as one of the first Chairmen of the Inland Wetlands Commission.

In May 1977, Don retired from Saybolt and Mary retired from her job as a bank teller; they bought a motor home and proceeded to tour the country. They hit almost every state and put 100,000 miles on the coach. On one occasion, they decided to head north to see how far they could get and ended up in Labrador , Canada .

Donald Walton lived a long and productive life. He passed away, March 9 at the age of 91. He is dearly missed by his beloved wife; two daughters; Virginia Chapman, her husband Alan; Margaret Kinne and her husband Richard; his son, David L. Walton and his wife Katrin; 4 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren.

Elected officers of the Killingworth Fire Company, circa 1950. (left to right) Front row, Robert Steadman; first assistant chief; Donald Walton, Chief; Walter Albrecht, second assistant chief. Back row, Frank Robinson, treasurer; William O'Connor, secretary; John Hine, trustee; Donald Welter, trustee, and Joseph Hajek, steward. (Roy E. Olson photo) Photos courtesy Killingworth Volunteer Fire Company.

Don and a great-grandchild in 2003.