Just this week, we got word from Randy Baumann, former Moderator of the Great Lakes forum, that Wally "63burban" Becker passed away.
"Wally Becker, who was an important part of starting and organizing the Great Lakes gathering, passed away recently. Everyone who knew him will miss him very much."
"I pulled a photo [img 1] from
his obituary. Wally is survived by his wife Kerri, his son Nic Eggert, and other relatives and friends.
"The best photo I have of him is cropped from the 2016 Gabfest group photo ( [img 2] - Wally Becker - that’s him in the blue shirt and white cap, standing next to his Chevy tow truck). He was always a little camera shy, in all of the group photos -- he was aways in the back. Here's the group photo. [img 2a]
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From Randy:On February 26th, 2023, the automotive hobby (and all Stovebolters) lost a friend in Wally Becker. He was 65 years old at the time of his death.
Wally was born Febuary 25, 1958 in Hartford, WI, and attended Slinger High School. Wally was very active in the local car shows and cruise nights, driving either his restored 1956 Chevy 4-door hardtop, his Chevy Suburban, or his 1964 Chevy tow truck. That infamous tow truck was originally used at the Blackhawk Farms Raceway in Rockton, Il. [img 4]
One of Wally’s favorite events was the MSRA (Minnesota Street Rod Association) “Back to the 50’s” weekend, that he attended often with his fellow “Cranksters.” [img 3]
For us Stovebolers, Wally was instrumental in organizing our local Great Lakes “Gabfest” held in Hartford, WI. He could often be found in the registration tent, welcoming fellow ‘Bolters to the event. Wally always greeted everyone with a smile and often with a good story to share.
Wally owned Iron Ridge Classic Chevy Parts supplying Chevy parts the fellow enthusiasts around the country.
Wally will be missed by everyone who knew him and those who knew about him.
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For us who knew Wally mainly from Stovebolt, we have a few things to share.
Wally joined in the forums in February 2010, He was seen in various parts of the technical forums, answering questions. Since he was from Iron Ridge, Wiconsin, he joined up with the Great Lakes Bolters.
Pictures from the 2012 GABFest ... then part of Heartland.
By 2016 Wally seemed to be watching intently the GABFest there. So by July that year, we asked him to co-moderate with Randy. And he went right to work: Great Lakes GABFest for August 20!
Here's the web page for the 2016 Great Lakes GABFest, Wally was great to
provide much needed information and feedback to the group.
Things picked up for that group from there out! We were all glad to have Wally helping out. As Randy said, he may have been kinda "virtually" shy but he was very personal. (He only racked up less than 90 posts.) He was more a people-person, as many who knew him from the events he attended ... with his vehicles. How can you be shy when you are gonna need to talk about those trucks! Does not compute. [img 5, 6, 7 -- that tow truck!]
The last time Wally posted was February 16, 2023, just ten days before he died.
In our search, we found a neat (but short in words; big on images) piece from
Classic Recollections entitled: "1964 Chevrolet C30 Black Hawk Farms Raceway Tow Truck."
Great Lakes use to be part of "The Heartland" group. In April 2022, we split that huge region, tighened it up, so we could wrap in some of our Canadian Bolters.
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Please feel free to share your remembrance of Wally here. And any additional pictures you may have.
