William Capehart Walke, Jr. of St. Michaels, Maryland, died peacefully on Saturday, April 21, 2018. He was 84.
Bill was born on June 13, 1933 in Baltimore to the late William Capehart Walke, Sr. and Anna Dudley Walke. Bill was raised in Baltimore. He attended Friends School in Roland Park, after which he received an engineering degree from University of Maryland in 1956, where he was a member of Phi Kappa Sigma. Following college, Bill was sworn in as a commissioned officer in the US Navy, serving on the USS Saratoga stationed in the Mediterranean.
In 1962, Bill met Mary Ellen McDonald of Easton, Pennsylvania, and they married in July of 1964.
After serving in the Navy, Bill pursued a career in power generation. He spent the majority of his career with the engineering consulting firm Sargent & Lundy based in Chicago. Bill was licensed as a professional engineer and was a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. His career took him around the world, working on projects in China, Korea, and Indonesia, as well as across the United States.
Bill and Mary Ellen raised their three children in Hinsdale, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Their family frequently vacationed in Ocean City, Maryland. Retirement reunited Bill with his beloved home state, when he and Mary Ellen moved to Saint Michaels in 1997. Bill was able to make wonderful new friends in this community and even reconnected friendships from his school days. Bill was active in the Navy League and was a proud member of the Miles River Yacht Club. Over the last 25 years, Bill and Mary Ellen enjoyed their annual winter holiday in Naples at the Vanderbilt Beach Resort, enjoying friendships that have lasted through the years.
Bill is survived by his wife, Mary Ellen Walke; two daughters, Elizabeth Walke (Steve Grotbo), of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Emily Gallagher (Matthew) of Chicago, Illinois, and his grandchildren Charles and Margaret Gallagher. He was preceded in death by his son, William C. Walke III; his sisters Emily Woodside and Anne Pennock (Samuel); and his parents, William Capehart Walke, Sr. and Anna Dudley Walke.
A funeral mass will be held on Friday, April 27, 2018 at 11 a.m. at St. Michaels Mission Church in St. Michaels. Burial will be private at Church Hill Cemetery in Church Hill, Maryland.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in his memory to St. Michaels YMCA, http://www.ymcachesapeake.org/give.
