Don Walter

CHARLESTON Pipe band

Don Walter is a retired U.S. Marine Officer, and a retired Senior Director at The University of Georgia. Even without a musical background, he always wanted to play bagpipes. Family, school, and career (moving his family 15 times in the Corps!) kept him too busy to learn the pipes. His wife, Traci, often heard him
comment about his interest in playing bagpipes, as bagpipes were played during many Marine Corps ceremonies. One of his fondest memories came after being deployed to the Gulf War for eight months - landing on an airstrip on U.S. soil, his Marine unit was marched in by a bagpiper (playing "Bonny Charley" AKA “Will Ye No Come Back Again”) to family and friends waiting in an aircraft hangar. Nearing final retirement, Don began his bagpipe journey by taking lessons (as a Christmas present from his wife and daughter) in an Athens, GA community group led by Dan Wilson, who became a good friend. Don finds playing thepipes extremely difficult and challenging – exactly what he likes about it! He tries to make up for his
natural musical inability with lots of practice and a good attitude. Bagpipes have opened up a whole new world for him – he loves the music, the instrument, and the people of the Charleston Pipe Band. The members of the Pipe Band are uniformly wonderful. He has not felt the sense of camaraderie the Band gives him since leaving active Marine Corps service nineteen years ago!