Dr. Walter Weffenstette

Dr. Walter E. Weffenstette, 93

Dr. Walter E. Weffenstette, 93, of Farmersville died Friday, March 11, 2011, in Sherman.

Services will begin at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, March 16, at Hough Funeral Home in Raymond. Visitation will be held from 5-7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 15 at the funeral home. Burial will be in Morrisonville City Cemetery

Dr. Weffenstette was born Sept. 1, 1917, in Waggoner, the son of Walter Lee and Grace (Baker) Weffenstette. He married Kathryn Porter in Waggoner Sept. 3, 1939, and she survives.

He attended Blackburn College in Carlinville and then obtained a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Illinois in 1939. In 1956 he received his Masters from Purdue University and his Ph. D. from Southern Illinois University in 1965.

An educator most of his life, he started his career in West Frankfort, teaching there from 1939-1942. In 1943 and from 1946-1952 he taught in Hammond, IN. He then went to Washington, DC where he worked as a radio design engineer for the Navy Bureau of Ships from 1943-1946. From 1952-1954 he returned to this area where he was involved in the family farm.

In 1954 he returned to Southern Illinois University until 1959 when he took a job at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, LA. He went to Indiana State University in 1966 where he finished his career in 1982, retiring as a full professor.

He and his wife moved to Plano, TX for a number of years, before returning to the family farm in Bois D’arc Township.

Dr. Weffenstette belonged to Phi Delta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, and Local 697 I.B.E.W. He attended the Plano Christian Church, and was a member of the Plano Kiwanis. He was an elder of the Virden Christian Church

In addition to his wife in Sherman, he is survived by a son, Dr. Bruce Weffenstette of Cedarburg, WI; seven grandchildren, four great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by a daughter, Julia Walker, and a son, John Weffenstette.