Walter Dearing

On August 8, 1924 at 39 Old Westport Rd., Walter was the youngest of four children born to Elizabeth Bilodeau and Charles Dearing. Growing up near Smith Mills, he attended the newly built Gidley School, caddied at the Paskamansett Links and New Bedford Country Club, and played football for the Husky Peewees. At Dartmouth High School, he lettered in golf, basketball, and football. During World War II, like his older brothers Bill and Harold, he enlisted, served in the Navy from 1943-1946, and was at Iwo Jima aboard LSM 145. Married in 1950 to my mother, Mary Sousa, and remained so for 65 years, until her passing 2 years ago at the age of 90. Besides working as a heating and air conditioning specialist for the government at Otis AFB and the Newport Navy Base, my dad found time to coach Little League baseball and basketball. Prior to his retirement in 1979, he established Dearing’s Golf Shop, specializing in repairs, sales, and lessons. A familiar face on the local golf scene for decades, he won the Allendale Fourball in 1970 with Harold Cohen and the Whaling City Fourball in 1975 with Joe Shaw, and has made 2 holes in one, but I think his much greater accomplishment has been the ability to score his age for the past 15+ years. Today, he continues to work on his golf game, trying to improve, and still lives in the house that he built in 1958 on Emmett Ave. with his Boston Terrier Jorge and cat Cinnamon. Life is good!