Walter was born and raised in Houston. He graduated from Episcopal High School then attended the University of Colorado for undergrad in Political Science and received his MBA in Finance from University of Houston. 

Walter and his first wife adopted Michael in 2013 a few months after he was born. Walter had always wanted to be a dad, and he was thrilled to have Michael in his life. Walter was a Commercial Real Estate Agent and when he found himself as a single dad in 2018, he decided to move to Waco to be part of the family business that his great-grandfathers had started. Walter and Michael were excited to find Twin Rivers and the great elementary school that went with it. After moving in May of 2018, Michael started Kindergarten that Fall at South Bosque. 

 

Gretchen was raised most of her life in Katy, Texas and graduated from Katy High School and then Baylor University with a degree in Communications and a Master’s degree from UTA in Instruction and Curriculum in Reading Instruction. Gretchen has 2 daughters, Hope and Kate who were both born in Waco and Gretchen’s parents now reside in Waco as well.

 

Hope is 26 and lives in Waco. She graduated from Midway High School and then went to UMHB and graduated with a degree in Psychology. She then went on to grad school at Texas A&M in Corpus Christi and graduated with a Master’s degree in Psychology. She is currently working as a counselor to female inmates in Gatesville as she logs hours to become a licensed counselor. She plans to apply to get her PhD in the next year. She is also engaged and planning a wedding in the upcoming future. 

 

Kate is 24 and moved this summer to Arizona. She graduated from the University of North Texas with a degree in Media Arts. She worked in Dallas for 18 months with a social media company as a videographer and now works for a social media company in Tucson.  

 

Walter and Gretchen met online in 2019. Although it is an unconventional way to meet for “older couples,” it worked for them. After officially starting to date, they gradually introduced each other to their children and proceeded to move forward. They became engaged in February of 2020. Although they were planning a summer wedding in 2020, COVID hit in March of 2020 and changed their plans. Even though they had only been engaged for a month, when everything started to shut down in March of 2020, Walter asked Gretchen to speed up the process so that they could all quarantine together. They got married in their church parking lot on March 22, just one day before the city of Waco “shut down” operations for COVID.  

 

Hope and Kate, who were both in college at the time, were sent home due to COVID. Gretchen and Michael, who were both in the Midway ISD system were also sent to “home school.” Walter said he had room for everyone so both she and the girls moved into his Twin Rivers home and the quarantine and combining of families began. They not only combined families but also 2 cats and a dog. It was truly a “Brady Bunch”! 

 

The 5 of them (and their pets) spent quarantine getting to know each other, annoying each other and learning to love each other. They worked puzzles, played Rummikub, listened to a lot of music, watched movies, homeschooled (college and elementary) and became a family. Walter and Gretchen truly believe if they had not had this time together that they would not be as close as they are now as a family. 

 

Walter’s mom, Edith, lives ½ the year in Colorado and was living ½ the year in Houston. However, after Walter and Michael moved to Waco, she followed them a few years later and now also lives in Twin Rivers. 

 

In August of 2023, their worlds were turned upside down. After 2 days of 5th grade at South Bosque Elementary, Michael was diagnosed with Leukemia. It shook them along with all their family and friends. After initial blood work was done in Waco, Michael was sent immediately to McLane’s Children’s Hospital. The official diagnosis was made there, and he initially spent several days in the PICU plus several more days on the general floor of the hospital while many tests were run, and treatment was started. 

At that time, they were informed that Michael would not be able to go back to school for his 5th grade year at SBE.  He was to be homebound for the whole year. This meant that the district would send a teacher to tutor him for 4 hours a week.

 

During the first few months of his diagnosis, Michael was in and out of the hospital three times. His ability to fight off infections was severely low due to the weekly (and sometimes daily) chemo he had to endure to fight off Leukemia. Hope and Kate, now back living their lives after COVID, made themselves more available to Michael. They were with Michael as often as possible and the family being together was such a source of comfort to everyone. 

 

The first year of Michael's diagnosis was extremely difficult on everyone - but obviously most of all on Michael. He missed his friends terribly. He also struggled to even get out of bed on many, many days. Seeing him so distraught and in pain, was horrible. He endured so much pain, procedures and restrictions; no child should ever have to endure. 

 

Michael is now in remission from Leukemia and in the “maintenance” part of his treatment. Treatment for Leukemia is a 2 ½ year process. Michael takes a daily dose of chemo plus 10 chemo pills weekly. He has a long road ahead of him, but they are so thankful that he is back in school this year and feeling well overall. It has been a year of growth for all of them in so many ways. 

 

Michael is now a 6th grader at River Valley Middle School. Gretchen is starting her 11th year working for Midway, but this is her first year at RVMS as an Intervention Specialist. It is just another thing they have to be thankful for as Gretchen is nearby to check on Michael and see how he is doing. 

 

They hate cancer, but they are thankful to be a family and thankful for the support that God has provided for them all by each other and by their wonderful family and friends in the neighborhood and beyond. 

"Entering this season of Thanksgiving, our family has SO much to be thankful for this year. First and foremost, we are extremely thankful to be a family. We do not think that any one of us could have gotten through the last 5 years without the love and support from each other."