Walter Otis Hawkins, Jr. passed away on June 25, 2026, in his hometown of Springfield, MO, after living a fun, full, and adventure-filled life of 80 years. Walter was born in Bolivar, MO, to Walter O. and Colene (Webb) Hawkins on October 8, 1945.

He was predeceased by his parents, his sister Sue Gardner, and nephew Michael Detherow. He is survived by his wife, Rita S. Hawkins, his son, Shane A. Hawkins and wife Connie, three grandsons, Ryan and his wife Tina, Chase, and Blake, his daughter Kristina and her husband James Gardner, and granddaughter Samantha J. Gardner. He is also survived by his sister Mary, her husband Bob Detherow, nieces Janet, Debbie, and Kathy and their children and grandchildren.

Walter attended Central High School in Springfield, MO, and spent his youth, work life, and retirement years fixing many broken things. Walter fixed people’s cars, equipment, homes, toys, and a vast variety of broken things out of ability, kindness, and human understanding. Walter’s mother said that as a little boy, Walter did not like to sit still – which never changed throughout his life. He often took his toys apart to see how they worked. He found ways to put them back together, and he became skilled at fixing all types of things. He repaired broken bicycles given to him by people on his newspaper delivery route, first for himself, and later for one of his early entrepreneurial endeavors even before he was in high school. This led to a job riding a bicycle to deliver telegrams across Springfield for Western Union.

A couple of years after marrying Rita S. Bouldin on August 11, 1962, Walter began working at Stoddard Equipment Company, a business his father had owned and worked at for many years. Walter quickly advanced through the company to become the Parts Manager which helped support his growing family when his son, Shane Hawkins, was born on March 15, 1965. Due to his mechanical skill, Walter began helping buddies build and fix stock cars, and soon, Walter was racing stock cars under the sponsorship of Stag Beer. Seeing an opportunity to make a little extra cash at the races one weekend, Walter even entered a wrecked family car into a local Demolition Derby and smashed it around with the other cars until he was the last one still moving.

Working on big trucks at Stoddard Equipment Company and building race cars with friends enabled him to expand his knowledge, expertise, and skill working with fueling systems. Walter always managed to use his experiences to build innovative toys and support fun adventures for the enjoyment of his friends and family, which now also included his daughter, Kristina Lynn born in 1967. During the oil shortage of 1973, Walter converted the family camper to run on dual fuel systems of gasoline or propane so that family vacations could continue despite the skyrocketing gasoline prices and long lines at gas stations.

Walter also built a dune buggy to play with his wife, kids, and friends on the hills, valleys, and rivers in the Mark Twain National Forest near Chadwick, MO. He even collaborated with a group of friends who built small aircraft to create a fiberglass boat that zipped across the water to the delight of many brave enough to embark on the journey. Weekends were spent camping and adventuring in campgrounds at lakes, rivers, springs, forests, state parks, or near museums, aquariums, and amusement parks. Camping was originally in tents, then in “Old Blue” (a converted laundry van), and then, in the early 1970s, in the beloved Winnebago – usually pulling a variety of boats (some homemade) and piles of bikes and toys close behind. The kids and friends played on homemade ski boards, water skied, and swam in Table Rock Lake from dawn to dusk – often nearly every weekend from March through October.

Shane and Krissy swam competitively, so Walter and Rita traveled in the Winnebago to swim meets across Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. Walter coached and trained the kids and refereed swim meets locally and at state competitions and championships. Walter was there for nearly ALL of the kids’ competitions, whether academic, music, sports, or band. He was either pulling a float or cheering the kids on from the edges of more parades and field competitions than even exist today. He taught his children how to work hard to achieve goals, but to stay focused on personal improvement more than ribbons, medals, and trophies, always reminding them, even if it was a music or academic competition to, “Swim your Best Race!”

In 1989, with the kids safely out of the house, Walter started his own company: Hawkins Petroleum Equipment (HPE Inc.). HPE Inc. offered design, installation, and service of fuel, lift, hydraulic, and other petroleum systems for service stations, convenience stores, airports, manufacturing facilities, boat docks, hospitals, police/fire/ambulance organizations, helicopter sites, and commercial sites such as Walmart. Walter expanded the business to incorporate environmental services such as pollution prevention and remediation for businesses and organizations including the Army Corps of Engineers in addition to the design and installation of environmental monitoring systems. This work was performed in collaboration with Sunlight Environmental Services which conveniently was owned and operated by his wife who had recently earned a Master’s Degree in Environmental Resource Planning.

In the late 1990s, Walter began acquiring rental properties, beginning with his childhood home, eventually owning as many as a dozen properties at a time through a corporation called WALT INC. Walter dedicated this business to rebuilding houses which increased the availability of secure, suitable, low-income housing in Springfield, MO. He also used this business to offer day-labor employment to numerous individuals struggling to get on their feet and secure their own housing. Walter was always ready to give people another chance to make their way through their challenging circumstances.

While still operating these thriving businesses, Walter had embraced a significant life change when he became a dedicated and actively engaged member of Alcoholics Anonymous. Walter consistently worked the program supporting himself and many others through meetings, programs, and sponsorship even during his final days of life when he participated remotely through Zoom meetings from his hospital bed. He proudly and gratefully celebrated 32 years of sobriety on May 4, 2026.

Throughout all of these adventures, projects, and endeavors, for 64 years, Rita was ever a part of each story. Walter and Rita were married at the tender age of 16, and they spent 80% of their lives – 23,329 days married – living and loving as one body joined forever together. In the words of William Shakespear in Sonnet 64, “Ruin hath taught me thus to ruminate, That time will come to take my love away.” That time has come. Fare the well, Walter. You truly Swam Your Best Race for Us!

Visitation will be held 5:30 p.m. ~ 7:30 p.m., Thursday, July 2, 2026, at Greenlawn Funeral Home East, 3540 E. Seminole St. in Springfield.  Funeral services will be at 3:00 p.m., Friday, July 3, 2026, at South Street Christian Church, 500 South Ave., in Springfield, with Rev. Ron Olreich officiating.  Burial will be private.

Care has been entrusted to Greenlawn Funeral Home East.