Walter N. Gittings

Walter N. Gittings, beloved husband of the late Dolores Gittings, passed from this life on June 3, 2023. Walter was the loving father of Neil Gittings and his wife Dee and David Gittings and his wife Lisa, cherished grandfather of Michael Gittings and his wife Jenny Kinniff, Ian Gittings and his wife Kensey, Meredith Neeley and her husband Tucker and Morgan Gittings.  He is also survived by two great-grandchildren Graham and Margot.      

He married Dolores when he was 21 and she was 18 on June 10, 1950 at St. Wenceslaus Church near Johns Hopkins Hospital in the neighborhood where they grew up and met.  At the time of Dolores’ death in 2022, Dolores and Walter had been married for over 71 years.

Walter worked at Bethlehem Steel’s Key Highway shipyard in the drafting office almost his entire career.  On the one occasion when he was temporarily laid off from the shipyard, he found work at McCormick before he came home that evening.  He was eventually called back to the shipyard and retired when the shipyard closed.

Walter was a weightlifter and runner before running was fashionable.  He was a quiet person whose interests included football, home improvement projects and cars.  Despite a limited education, Walter read much and was always interested in learning something new.  He was a determined handyman who was proud of the improvements that he made to his and others’ homes.

In Baltimore, Walter rarely missed one of grandson Michael’s baseball or soccer games.  In Roswell, GA, he and Dolores were spectators at grandson Ian’s, granddaughter Meredith’s and granddaughter Morgan’s lacrosse games and Morgan’s dance recitals.

Viewing and services will be private. The family requests that memorial donations be made to Gilchrist.