Volunteers remember Buzz Walters as the heart of Greene’s Toys for Tots program
Colleen Nelson/ For the Observer-Reporter
John “Buzz” Walters, longtime organizer of Greene County’s Toys for Tots drive, died on Friday. Volunteers carried on with the annual distribution on Saturday, making Christmas merrier for 523 county children.
Colleen Nelson/For the Observer-Reporter
Volunteers gathered Saturday for Greene County’s Toys for Tots distribution. They carried on this year, helping 523 children, but it was bittersweet. On Friday, longtime organizer John “Buzz” Walters died.
Colleen Nelson/For the Observer-Reporter
Greene County’s Toys for Tots program was first formed in 1982 and held its first distribution in 1983. Its organizer, John “Buzz” Walters died Friday, the day before the annual distribution.
John “Buzz” Walters, 88, commandant of the Tri-County Leathernecks died Friday, Dec. 16 – the night before his beloved 39th annual Greene County Toys For Tots giveaway on Saturday morning.
The sad news reached his small army of family and friends as they were busy setting up tables of toys for the next day. The news spread out through texts and phone calls to the scores of those of us who knew, loved and respected this Korean War-era Marine veteran who touched so many lives with his actions.
When a friend texted me that night, I knew the story I had been asked to write about Toys for Tots would now be a heartfelt tribute to Buzz and the volunteers who have worked with him and his fellow Leathernecks since 1983. Their mission: Make sure every Greene County kid has a present to open on Christmas morning.
The doors at the five designated sites opened as usual, promptly at 10 a.m. at Greene County Fairgrounds, Carmichaels and Greensboro fire halls, Clarksville Christian Church and Richhill Township Fire Hall in Wind Ridge. Families that had been lining up for hours entered in small groups to register their kids under age 12, then browse the toys acquired by fundraising dinners, cash donations and drop-offs throughout the year. Must-have presents, all new, filled long rows of tables at every site, a sparkling array of trucks, dinosaurs, dolls, games, puzzles and stocking stuffers, all waiting to be taken home for Christmas.
“Whatever we don’t give out goes to Salvation Army and they give them out to kids that come there,” longtime fairgrounds site coordinator Roy Negley explained. “Every site raises their own money. We had a spaghetti dinner and so many people donated, I want to thank them all. We’re very grateful. This year we spent $5,000 at Big Lots and Walmart and we had 11 boxes for donations around Waynesburg. We couldn’t do this without community support.”
The doors were still closed when I arrived at the fairgrounds; it was 9:45 a.m. and Negley’s extended family of volunteers and friends were patrolling the hall, readying for the next two hours of cheerfully orchestrated shopping, as parents and caregivers filed in, identified who they were shopping for, then were given big black plastic lawn clipping bags to bag toys – two for each child.
Then out the door, all within five minutes. It echoed the military precision of, well, Marine veteran Buzz Walters.
At the far end of the tables stood a short row of shiny bicycles, the toy that was the present kids dreamed of when Toys for Tots started in 1983.
When I interviewed Buzz in 2016 for Greene County Living magazine, he told me how this giveaway project got started, back in the day when new toys weren’t that easy to come by.
Used bicycles were donated and Leatherneck elves did repairs and painted them up to be re-gifted to kids hungry for their own bike to ride. They also re-planked old sleds and readied other donated toys – but nothing back then beat a bicycle.
“We’re too old to do that now,” Walters admitted in 2016. “But we get lots of new bicycles donated and that’s one of the best presents a kid can get.”
As we waited for 10 a.m. to arrive, everyone had a story to tell about Buzz.
“He was involved with anything to do with veterans. If they needed something he’d be there. And he really loved doing Toys for Tots,” said Negley, who began volunteering 30-some years ago when his wife Shirley started helping out. “Slowly but surely we all started volunteering, right down to my daughter who’s 11. She’s been doing it for five years. We have 10 long-haul volunteers this year.”
Other facts emerged; son Shaunn, 49, a regular volunteer for Toys for Tots, died of cancer in September and, “Shirley’s home sick but we’ve got other friends to help. We’re okay. We’ll make it this year.”
“I’ve been volunteering for 10 years now,” nephew Jason Courtney calculated when I asked. “Buzz Walters gave me my first toy personally.”
Over at the registration desk, great-nephew Dakotta Thomas of Uniontown, nodded. “We all come back to help out. It’s a good thing.”
Many Toys for Tots volunteers can be spotted doing good work in the community throughout the year.
Ramona Jenkins, who manages the Wayne Township Food Pantry is a regular, and Jessica Cole, who works at the Corner Cupboard Food Bank, was in full red and green seasonal attire, with red felt reindeer antlers in her hair.
Vietnam Bronze Star veteran Bruce Black of Carmichaels, now president of Greene County Veterans Association, remembered he met Buzz in 1988 when “he started the group because a lot of vets weren’t getting all their benefits, they needed transportation, they needed help.
“If you had any questions, Buzz was the one that figured it all out. He talked to everybody, the VA, the commissioners, everybody. In 1989 we got a new van from the VA and the county helped pay for it. There’s so much to tell. He started the Greene County Honor Guard. Buzz was the backbone of it all. He was a real leader no doubt about that. Ten years ago he said, ‘Blackie, you coming up to Waynesburg?’ and I’ve been helping here ever since,” Black said. “He was like a father. When I try to figure out what to do I think what would Buzz do? – and little pieces start coming back. I’m really going to miss him. He was my friend.”
The doors opened, the big black bags got taken, and Toys for Tots began streaming out the door. Two hours later it was over. All the bikes were gone and the scattering of toys left were gathered for delivery to Salvation Army as the crew of volunteers gathered for a victory photo.
“Get in tight,” I yelled, doing my best Buzz imitation. “Pretend you like each other! Smile!”
Ramona, Jessica and Pat Black leaned in. Jason and Blackie held up one of the Toys for Tots boxes that sat at 11 sites in and around Waynesburg this year gathering toys. Right up front, Lily and Faith showed the face of childhood when there’s presents to be had.
And Roy Negley in the middle of it all, next to his sister Jane Headley, sent a shout out to Santa and the Steelers, as well he should. It was beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
Post script: It’s Sunday evening. Niece Laura Walters just texted the number of children who got presents this year in Greene County: “523 one of the sites was off a few numbers.”
She added a tribute to Uncle Buzz: “He was a great leader, organizer and supporter for a program he truly believed in that put smiles on children’s faces on Christmas morning. He will be greatly missed.”
Bruce Black also shared one last memory, still vivid.
“We prayed for Buzz on Friday just before we got the text (he passed away). Buzz was chaplain of the Veterans Council and he told us last meeting we should start thinking about who will replace him. How did he pray? He always prayed that everybody in the keystone county of Pennsylvania have everything they need.”