Visitation will be held from 5 p.m. until 9 p.m., Tuesday, at Parkway Funeral Service, 2330 Tyler Parkway, Bismarck, N.D., with a prayer service beginning at 7 p.m. Visitation will continue one hour prior to services at the church.
Walter L. Dockter was born Aug. 6, 1919, at Anamoose, N.D., to John M. and Mary (Spear) Dockter. He attended school in Sheridan County, N.D., and helped on the family farm.
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He served in the Civilian Conservation Corps from 1936 to 1937. He was inducted into the U.S. Army on Oct. 25, 1941, and was stationed at Fort Snelling, Minn., for basic training. Being placed in the 27th Army Division, 105th Infantry Regiment out of New York, he was sent to Camp Walters, Texas, for more training. He then spent 30 months overseas which began in Honolulu for further training and restoration of Pearl Harbor. He was then sent to the South Pacific Theater of Operations in March, 1942. After extensive fighting in the Marianas Islands, Walter was wounded during the Battle of Saipan, July 11, 1944. He was hospitalized in Honolulu and Gardner General Hospital in Chicago until Oct. 9, 1945, where he was honorably discharged as a Tech VI Code clerk. He was awarded the Purple Heart, Asiatic Theater Service Medal, American Defense Medal, six Overseas Service bars, a Combat Infantry Badge, and qualified as an expert in bayonet.
Walter met his lifelong love, Linda Wacker, while in the hospital in Chicago. They were married June 9, 1946, in the Baptist Parsonage in McClusky, N.D. He was twice elected as sheriff of Sheridan County, N.D., first elected in 1947 and served as sheriff from January 1948 to December 1952. He then farmed near Mercer, N.D., from 1953 to 1962, during which time he was assessor for Medicine Hill Township, precinct committeeman, and vice chairman of the Democratic NPL Party.
He moved with his family to Bismarck in 1962, and worked as a chauffeur, security officer, and special assistant to governors William Guy, Arthur Link, and Allen Olson and families for 23 years, retiring Dec. 31, 1984. He was trained as an executive body guard and was a special agent with the North Dakota Crime Bureau.
He served as post commander of the American Legion Post 124 in McClusky, N.D., and was a member of the American Legion Post 1 in Bismarck, N.D. He was a lifelong member of the VFW, the DAV, and BPOE. He was baptized with his son, Richard, in the First Baptist Church in Bismarck, N.D., served on the Board of Deacons and Trustees, and was a past chairman of the Christian Education Department.
Walter was a trusted friend and confidant to many people. He loved to get together with friends and family, play games, discuss issues of the day, and watch sports, especially his beloved New York Yankees in which he shared a close interest with his army unit comrades.
He is survived by one sister, Helen Bonnet, of Turtle Lake, N.D.; one sister-in-law, Peggy Dockter, of McClusky, N.D.; one son and daughter-in-law, Richard and Twila Dockter, of Pierre; and his seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren: Al and Laurie Adams and their children Alexandra, Cole, and Victoria, Krista Eilers, Bradley W. Dockter, Brandon J. Dockter, Brent R. Dockter, Taya M. Dockter, and Samantha E. Dockter, and a close friend of his son, Robert, Karen Schoenberg. He was preceded in death by his wife, Linda (Wacker) Dockter, one son, Robert J. Dockter, one grandson, Tyler J. Dockter; his parents, John M. and Mary (Spear) Dockter; two brothers, one sister, one sister-in-law, and one brother-in-law, Johnny and Elsie Dockter, Art Dockter, Eleanor Whitman (Fred Whitman), and Albert Bonnet.
Go to www.parkwayfuneral.com to share memories of Walter and sign the online guestbook.
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