Walter Alfred Crowley, 91, of Oak Harbor, died May 20, 2008, at Island Hospital in Anacortes. He was born Jan. 31, 1917, in Detroit, Mich., to Frank Cecil Crowley and Clara Mae (McNeil) Crowley.

In 1941, at 24 years of age, he joined the U.S. Army for four years and left with the rank of tec-sergeant (E-5).

In 1950, Walter graduated near the top of his class at Detroit’s Wayne University with a B.S. in chemistry. Later, when referring to the time after he graduated, he said, “That’s when the fun began.”

Walter had several jobs in his life including medical tech supervisor, chemistry supervisor, process engineer, senior staff engineer, guidance and control development on the Redstone and Jupiter missile projects and designing the hovercraft for moving heavy pieces of equipment. His original scale model and prototype hovercraft are in the Smithsonian Air Museum in Washington, D.C. He retired from Boeing, but his inventing never ceased.

Still, with all his past accomplishments, in 1973 he found what came to be the most important thing to him, his relationship with Jehovah God and on Dec. 30, 1973, he was baptized as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

During this time, Walter met Lily Adele Murray and on July 20, 1974, they were married. Walter and Lily have such a love for Jehovah that they turned their home into a memorial to God. Walter built a Watchtower in the front of the their home and crowned it with the Hebrew Tetragrammaton representing God’s name.

Walter had so many interests in life. Among them, he loved inventing and always had a project working. He also loved playing chess and his chessboard is a fixture in the entrance below the “Watchtower” in front of his house. Still, the most important of all his loves was that for Jehovah God and for the “truth” of God’s Word the Bible.

He believed that in the not to distant future, Jehovah God will “ wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:4)

He is survived by his wife, Lily Adele Crowley; brother Lawrence Crowley; three children; and his sister’s two children.

A Memorial Service will be held Saturday, June 7, at 2 p.m. at Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses, 301 NE Ronhaar, Oak Harbor. Duane Lee will speak.