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Late LAHS graduate memorialized by friends, family members
By MIKE MAEZ-COTE lasports@lamonitor.com Monitor Sports Editor 12/12/01 Reposted from the Los Alamos Monitor Web Site (www.lamonitor.com)
It was a bittersweet run for Cathy Walters. Walters, a longtime Los Alamos resident, got to carry the Olympic Torch Jan. 5 in Kenosha, Wis., as it trekked across the country toward the Winter Olympic Games, which starts in Salt Lake City Friday. Walters, who had no idea until just a few hours beforehand she would be running, was invited to carry the torch by her daughter-in-law Darlene Walters, who is helping coordinate the torch's cross-country trip. But Cathy Walters was running for her son, Matt Walters, a Salt Lake Olympic Committee worker who died suddenly of a rare heart virus in March 2001. He was 30. "A lot of his co-workers said how dedicated he was to it," she said of Matt. "I guess that's what he would've done for the rest of his life." Matt Walters was a 1988 graduate of Los Alamos High School. While attending LAHS, Walters was a swimming standout, who captured two state titles and a state record time his senior season. Following his senior year, Walters swam for Texas Christian University under coach Richard Sybesma, who also ran the Olympic torch in his honor in Dallas. Cathy Walters said her torch run was a memorable experience. "Being a torchbearer was humbling," she said. "Someone on the (torchbearers') bus said it was surreal. That's the adjective I want to use." Walters was working as a geologist in the Salt Lake City area when he got involved with the Olympics. He helped organize the torch run and also helped to launch Salt Lake City's Olympics Web page He was tuned into the job by longtime friend and 1987 LAHS graduate Rick Wangen. Wangen took over the Games' Web page design after Walters' death, bringing the project "complete circle." "It was very emotional," Wangen said when he took over the job. "I'm sitting at the same work station he was at. I have very big shoes to fill because he was highly thought of here." Following Walters' death, his widow Darlene, a 1989 graduate of LAHS and a physical therapist in the Salt Lake City area, took over as torch run coordinator. She also ran with the torch Jan. 12 in Santa Fe to commemorate her late husband. Commemoration of Matt Walters will continue on into the Olympic Games, thanks to Cathy, who has volunteered to work at the Games. She will be working at the Steiner Center but didn't know exactly what she would be doing. "I'm not sure what they're expecting, but since I'm a volunteer they can't expect too much," she said. "That's why I'm doing it. It's a tribute to him." The Games run through Feb. 24. |
