By Jerry Hale, Leaders of Faith Chaplain for Delaware and New Jersey
I first met Walter Jay early in my assignment at the Coast Guard District Office in Cleveland back in 1977. Walter was a long-time civilian employee and headed up the Industrial Engineering Branch for the District. In the spring of 1979 I was completing the 2nd year of my 3-year tour at the District Office. I was in my 10th year of what turned out to be a 27-year career as a Coast Guard Officer. With my association with Officers’ Christian Fellowship, I had been well schooled in the concept of integrating faith in Jesus with profession. With that in mind upon my arrival in Cleveland, I sought out a likeminded officer and we started a Bible study on Thursdays during lunch. We received permission to hold the meeting in the District Commander’s Conference Room on the 20th floor of the Federal Building overlooking Lake Erie.
I Peter 3:15 tells us, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that is in you. But do this with gentleness and respect.”
Quoting from my journal, “Probably the high point of my time here happened during one of my more stressful days on Thursday! I had prayed that morning like I have many other times that God would send someone to my office who I could help in a personal way. Amazingly on that day, of all people, he sent Mr. Walter Jay.” As I recall, I was running late to Bible study and busy with the “Problem of the Day.” I grabbed my Bible from my desk and quickly exited my office and literally ran into Walter. Walter looked at me incredulously and said, “That’s a Bible!” I told him that it was indeed a Bible and that I was on my way to Bible study: Would he like to come? He said that he would and followed me down the hall to the conference room. There was only one other attendee that day and Walter poured his heart out to both of us as he told us his story.
Walter was quite upset because he had just been informed that his position was being eliminated and he was going to have to retire. At 65-years old he was eligible to retire, but he had not been planning on it. My colleague and I spent over an hour talking to him about our faith in Jesus. He told us that he had been an officer in the Polish Army when Germany invaded Poland in 1939. He was captured and sent to a POW camp for the duration of the war. Walter told us that he was able to survive in the harsh confines, only because of his strong Catholic Faith. He immigrated to America after the war, but fell away from his faith when the beliefs he had held so dear were changed and modernized.
Before we departed that day, I asked Walter if I could pray for him. He said that I could and when I finished, he was beaming and hugged and kissed me. Later, we talked and he told me that he never realized that there were people like us with such faith in God.
As Walter began to adjust to the reality that he would be leaving, he put his house up for sale and planned to move to Florida. However, there was a recession in the housing market in Cleveland in those days and he was concerned about what to do. He stopped by my office on a Friday and asked me to pray for his house sale. So, we prayed together and, lo and behold, over the weekend the house sold! On Monday he went around the office telling everyone, including the District Commander, that LCDR Hale had sold his house!
Walter did make the move to Florida and we continued to communicate over the years, mostly at Christmas. At some point, we lost touch, but I look forward to meeting up with him again someday in Heaven.
As far as the Bible study went, Walter’s newfound excitement about the Lord brought more and more people out to join us. When I left the office the next summer for a new assignment, the room was filled on a weekly basis.