My Uncle Walter
WWII Veteran


Walter Koper was born at home on May 15, 1913, in Detroit, Michigan to John Koper & Katherine Dolecki Koper.
I'm not sure if Walter was one of the children delivered by his own father, John, a Polish immigrant.
Walter passed away at 1:40 AM on November 11, 1991 at the Mid Michigan Regional Medical Center in Midland, Michigan. He was the firstborn son of John and Katherine Dolecki Koper.

Grandson of Polish immigrants, Pawel Dolecki & Anna Kalinowski Dolecki.

Great grandson of Jan & MaryAnna Dolecki.

Uncle Walter was a WWII Army Veteran. He was a Sargeant in the Army Air Core.

Walter married Vera Loyes Zukowski in Hamtramck, Michigan. The wedding occured at either St. Florian Catholic Church or St. Ladislaus Catholic Church.

I know they lived in Detroit for some time but they eventually moved to Columbiaville, Michigan. In Columbiaville, Walter ran a very successsful dairy farm & was known for his breeding of dairy cows. Anyone who was living while Uncle Walter owned The Farm, as everyone affectionatelt called it, has wonderful memories of their time spent there. Even though most of the time was spent working first & visiting after.


Uncle Walter & Aunt Vera never had children. They did adopt a daughter, Shirley, & a son, Frank Walter Koper. They were also foster parents to Marva, Caroline, Dolores, & Linda--I believe that there were two boys, too.

Vera became very ill & died at age 59 from Parkinson's Disease & related issues, possibly cancer. A year after her death, Walter sold the dairy farm making quite a profit.
In 1973, he opened Walt's Bar in Millington, Michigan. Millington is small town but he made a good name for himself by running a good honest business & treating his customers right. Even through the years, when he moved away from town, & had a home in Florida for a while, his business thrived & the townspeople always respected him.

I remember Uncle Walter marrying a lady, I believe her name was Jean. That ended in divorce.
He always had "lady friends" but I'm not sure if he ever remarried any of them.

I remember hearing that Uncle Walter was my "millionairre Uncle". He never denied it because he earned his money.
He worked hard for his dairy farm & when he sold it, he made a good profit. His siblings & family knew how hard he worked because the family was always out there to pitch in & help. I know Grandpa Koper enjoyed being on the farm since he was raised on one & that was his life until he came to the United States.
Walt's Bar was always busy & I believe he was just plain good at saving money & knowing when to invest it, mostly in property.

My memories of him are of him dressed perfectly. He always wore wing tipped shoes.
He smoked White Owl cigars. He always danced a polka with me at weddings & was always a wonderful Uncle.
Since I was the youngest niece of their baby brother, all of my Koper Uncles were always good to me & they spoiled me. I was always the good luck charm of who ever was winning in their poker games & always got a small share of their winnings.








~A Special thanks to Bill Kutchen for photographing my Uncle Walter's grave for me!~