Walter H. Green, Jr.

“My beloved best friend & devoted husband of 63-1/2 years, Walter, is now and forever experiencing eternal peace, as his soul has transitioned, in joyful repose, with our All- Loving God for all eternity… Forever grateful am I to have been bonded with this dear man who embraced our shared faith, treasured family, plus fostered friendships enthusiastically along adventurous paths.

Graced still to have been at his side as his soul ascended tranquility to unite his Irish lyric tenor voice to the realms of glorious praise in paradise.” – Kathleen “Kay” Byars Green.

No one was a stranger to Walter H. Green Jr. – at least not for long. He was known to carry on lengthy conversations and when finished, turn to his loving wife, Kay, and ask “Who was that?”

“I thought you knew,” Kay would respond

The gregarious New Orleans native, and resident of Springfield for more than 63 years, left this world April 17, just six weeks shy of his 94th birthday. He led a life filled with music, travel with his family, work at Missouri State University, and watching numerous college sports teams, especially his favorite, Lady Bears basketball.

Walter was born May 3, 1932, in New Orleans, La. His parents, Walter Sr. and Marguerite Chanson Green, lived in the 9th Ward, a culturally diverse area of the city just north of the French Quarter. It was inundated by Hurricane Katrina floodwaters in 2005.

He attended Catholic schools in New Orleans, until he moved into his Grandpa and Grandma Chanson’s house in the piney woods just outside of Slidell, La. He played basketball and was sports editor of his school newspaper Slidell High. He returned to New Orleans and graduated from Francis T. Nicholls High School.

After working at several fire safety companies, he secured a job at the Times-Picayune, New Orleans’ morning newspaper. He was a “copy boy” running final versions of news stories from the editors to typesetters preparing news for putting on the press. Those who saw Walter drive were not surprised that he spent time as a taxi driver!

In his spare time, Walter was a member of the Coast Guard Reserves, which was responsible for protecting the Port of New Orleans. When the Korean Conflict began and his unit was activated, it became a full-time assignment, and he was stationed on a cutter while training to be a medic. Members of the unit underwent medical exams before shipping out and X-rays found a spot on Walter’s lung. Two members of his unit proved to have Tuberculosis, so he and the others were hospitalized instead of shipping out.

Walter’s spot proved to be a calcified lesion, not TB, and when he returned to the newspaper he found there was no longer a job because he was supposed to be on his way to Korea. He began picking up money singing at various locations, including being a wedding singer. His Irish tenor voice earned a spot in a barbershop quartet and he sang in several light operas. He also proudly a choir member at the St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans’ famous French Quarter.

His singing success led Walter to enroll in the vocal music program at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, where he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees, with a focus on opera.

LSU is where he met the love of his life, Kathleen Byars, an elementary education major. Kay recalls their first date was a “picnic with boiled crabs, French bread, and a cold brew on the bank of City Park Lake” near the campus.

Walter was enrolled in another degree program that proved fortuitous. He earned a Master’s of Library Science in 1962.

The couple married Aug. 18, 1962, at The Church of the Assumption, Kay’s home church in Franklin, La. Father George Bodin, a cousin who also had married Kay’s parents, presided. They left the wedding reception in her father’s car towing a U-Haul trailer to Springfield, where Walter had secured a job at the Southwest Missouri State College (later Missouri State University) library.

Walter was an only child and said he wanted a family. Two years after Walter and Kay arrived in Springfield, their first child was born. Glenn Patrick was soon joined by Brian Michael and Kevin Alan – three sons in four years.

Walter was department head of the Periodicals/Serial Publications areas of the SMS library, and greatly expanded the facility’s newspaper and magazine holdings and the microfilm and microfiche collection. When a Music Library was created 21-1/2 years later, he was a perfect fit and Walter moved to run the first branch library on campus. Students pursued grants to fund the facility.

Walter was a longtime Faculty Senator, and made an effort to advocate for disabled and foreign students. Walter retired in 1997 as an Emeritus Professor after working 35 years at the University.

Over the years, Walter sang tenor with what is now the Ozarks Lyric Opera and with the Mid-America Singers. He cantored for his own Catholic church, and was later a Tenor soloist and music leader for a local Presbyterian church. He was proud that he had sung in numerous churches and performed with the Mid-America Singers at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. for the US bicentennial, and at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

He didn’t just sing, though. He jumped at every opportunity to dance with Kay, especially the jitterbug, foxtrot and waltz. Big Band and 50s rock-n-roll were his favorite dance music.

Walter loved the outdoors and camping, and believed in the principles of the Boy Scouts of America. He served as Scoutmaster for the troop that included his sons Glenn, Brian and Kevin. Later in life when his grandsons Logan and Landon’s Scout troop was struggling to find a dad who had the time to be Scoutmaster, Walter dusted off his old Scoutmaster’s uniform and stepped in to assure the troop’s survival.

Walter was a Fourth Degree Knights of Columbus member. He and Kay helped establish the Newman Center, a Catholic Campus Ministry, and they “gifted” the children’s playroom at the Mercy Children’s Hospital. They were longtime members of Springfield’s Host Lions Club Chapter.

There’s no way to calculate how many miles Walter put on vehicles traversing the country. Glenn says “I recall our last big family trip, going through parts of Canada and the Northeast down to (Uncle) Lee’s wedding” in Chackbay, La. “It was almost 7,000 miles in five weeks.”

Kay recalls the family visiting all 48 continental United States and “from pup tent to pop-up, then travel trailers, camping mostly in national parks, national forests, and national monuments, as well as venturing into eastern and western Canada.” Kay and Walter also took two week-long Delta Queen riverboat cruises on the Mississippi River, going upstream and downstream.

Due to degenerative back disease and Alzheimer’s the past several years, Walter went from being the person you couldn’t keep up with to a more sedentary life-- still enjoying family. Now that Walter’s earthly travels have come to an end, a final farewell is slated May 15, with visitation at 9:30 a.m., followed at 10:30 by a Mass of Christian Burial at Holy Trinity Catholic Church, 2818 East Bennett Street, in Springfield.

He is survived by his wife of 63-1/2 years Kathleen “Kay” Byars Green; sons Glenn Patrick Green (spouse Greta), Brian Michael Green (spouse Terrence), and Kevin Alan Green; grandsons Logan Patrick Green (spouse Emily), Landon Alan Green, and Alexander Michael Green; granddaughter Victoria Emily Green (Alex and Victoria’s mother Claudia); great-granddaughters Avery Kay and Ellie Ann Green; and numerous members of the Byars extended family.

Visitation will be held Friday, May 15, 2026 at 9:30 AM in Holy Trinity Catholic Church followed by funeral mass at 10:30 AM, 2818 East Bennett Street, Springfield, Missouri 65804.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial contributions to Bright Focus Foundation, www.brightfocus.org which is seeking cures for Alzheimer's, macular degeneration, and glaucoma.