Walter Leslie Waddle, 65, of McKenzie, Tennessee, died July 23, 2021. Walter was a member of McKenzie Cumberland Presbyterian Church (West Tennessee Presbytery) where he had served as choir director. As a “preacher’s kid,” he was well known in the Cumberland Presbyterian and Bethel College communities.

Walter was born May 9, 1956, to the Reverend Leslie C. Waddle, a Cumberland Presbyterian minister, and Mary Elizabeth “Bubba” Dotherow Waddle in McKenzie, Tennessee. L.C. Waddle was variously dean of students, campus minister, and a professor of religion at Bethel College (now Bethel University). Walter was educated in the public schools and graduated from McKenzie High School before attending Bethel as a music major.

At Bethel, Walter was a member of the Balladeers and represented the college with vocal performances on campus and around the United States. He played the trumpet and served as president of Kappa Phi Sigma. Walter graduated from Bethel in 1979 but continued his education at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee, completing a masters degree in music education.