Fairway Wally has gone to the ultimate golf course in heaven on March 19, 2018. We know that he is there.

Walter Ray (Walt) Thomas was born to William and Mable (Jennings) Thomas on the family ranch 12 miles west of Belle Fourche, SD in 1932. He died 5 days shy of his 86th birthday. He had a happy, depression era childhood in a family of 5 children, where laughter, old hymns and baked goods were ever present. There Walt was known as "Buddy" to his family and called that by them to this day. Walt attended grades 1-12 in Belle Fourche and graduated high school there in 1950. At age 14, he began work in Kimport's Ben Franklin store where he learned his retail trade under a stern task master but where he had the job benefit of eating all the candy he wanted from the candy case. This no doubt lead to a lifetime sweet tooth. He played trumpet at hot summer events all over the Black Hills in the famous Belle Forche Cowboy Band. He attended Business School at the National College of Business in Rapid City in 1951.

Walt was drafted into the US Army in December 1951 and served 16 months in Korea where he was Battalion clerk of the 64th Tank Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division. Walt thankfully arrived at the DMZ on the day the armistice was signed.

Walt worked in retailing in Belle Fourche, Alliance, NE, Hot Springs, Pierre, and Rapid City. He came to Custer in 1966, where he eventually owned the Four Seasons Department store until retirement in 1994. He then began part-time retirement jobs of title clerk at Murner Chevrolet for 15 years and bookkeeper at Rushmore Automotive until August 2016.

Walt married Alice Brown of Hot Springs in 1959, and raised Rod and Susie and Jim, born in Pierre, in true Ward and June Cleaver style. They worked together in the Custer store making lifelong friends in the Four Seasons buying group from small-town stores all over the upper Midwest. They loved working in their store but Walt has declared that if there is a hell, it is in the shoe department, even though he put many a teenager from Custer in their first pair of Converse-Star tennis shoes. We know he will never have to do the shoe department again. Walt was an active member of his community serving as President of the Custer Chamber of Commerce, Lions Club and Custer City Council. He was a member of the SD Retail Association and the Custer Hospital Board. He served as Treasurer of the Custer Custer City Masonic Lodge #66 for 37 years. He was also a staple at all Custer High School basketball games during the "Glory Days". In his 40's, Bernie Tennyson drug Walt from the store to play golf. So began a lifelong enjoyment of the game. He was a member of the Rocky Knolls Golf Association where everyone enjoyed golfing with Walt Thomas. As his daughter reported, he wasn't the world's greatest golfer, or the world's 2nd greatest golfer, but a pretty darn good golfer. He earned the nickname "Fairway Wally" on many infamous winter golf trips with lifelong friends. His honorary pallbearers, Dale Shaffer, Mark Bruce, Bob Albrecht, Charley Najacht, Jim Kelley, John Carson, Paul Nettinga and Gerry Baldwin are from this group and his coffee time buddies.

After the loss of his beloved Alice, Walt found happiness again and married Sheila Batchelder in 2005. They enjoyed 13 years together and shared their participation in the Custer Community Church where Walt was trustee.

Walt is survived by wife, Sheila Thomas; son Jim (Juliet) Thomas; daughter Susann (Steve) Cuperus of Bismark, ND; stepson, Eric (Jodi) Richardson of Cloquet, MN; stepdaughter, Laura Thomas of Cheyenne, WY; sister, Ruth Shoop of Belle Fourche; brother in law, Bill Wagner, Emporia, KS; 10 grandchildren- Taryn, Tessa, Tawny, Jace of Rapid City and Jackie, Jodi, Jana, Wilson, Kolton and Ren, twelve great grandchildren, numerous nieces and nephews, and loyal dog, Max. Walt is predeceased by his parents, wife Alice; stepson Rodney Johnson; brothers Bill and Lester; and sister Rose Wagner.

Memorial services will be held 9:00 a.m., Friday, March 23, 2018, at the Custer Community Church in Custer with Pastor Dustin Bartlett officiating. Committal services will be held 1:30 p.m., Friday, March 23, 2018, at the Black Hills National Cemetery near Sturgis, SD.

A memorial has been established in Walter's name to benefit Custer Community Church in Custer or the Meals on Wheels program.

Arrangements have been placed in the care of Chamberlain McColley's Funeral Home in Custer, SD.