'Pilgrim George,' trekked 40K miles to witness for Jesus, dies at 82

“Pilgrim George” lived a humble life focused on serving as a witness for Jesus Christ.

For nearly 40 years, the Hampton native lived a hermit-like existence during the fall and winter months, using the time to plan his spring and summer pilgrimage in the name of Jesus. He believed the pilgrimages were his obligation to God.

During his lifetime he walked more than 40,000 miles to religious shrines in more than 40 countries.

George F. Walter of Jefferson Township in Butler County died of kidney failure on Sept. 17. He was 82.

Walter owned almost nothing except the clothes he wore — his trademark denim-patched robe and sandals made from tire treads — along with the three sacks that he carried.

He had no money except the little that people gave him — and he didn’t want any — choosing instead to live off the generosity of the strangers he met along the way.

“I always describe him as the holiest man people would ever meet,” said Walter’s brother, Tom Walter of Albany, N.Y. “That includes priests, popes, bishops — it’s the way he lived his life.”

Walter lived as a religious pilgrim. So he spent much of his life walking around the world to serve as an eye-catching witness for Christianity.

When people asked about his destination or purpose, Walter told them he was “en route to heaven.”

Born July 25, 1941, Walter was the son of the late Florian and Mary Rita Walter, formerly of Hampton. He is survived by his brother, Tom, three nephews and two nieces. He was preceded in death by another brother, Paul.

A graduate of St. Mary of the Assumption School in Hampton, George Walter originally planned to become a Roman Catholic priest. He spent four years studying at St. Vincent Seminary in Latrobe.

In 1963, Walter graduated with a degree in philosophy from the Athenaeum of Ohio, which is Mount St. Mary’s Seminary & School of Theology in Cincinnati.

He earned a divinity degree from St. Vincent Seminary in 1967 before requesting a leave of absence from seminarian duties and heading for the West Coast.

In 1970, Walter made his first religious pilgrimage from Barcelona, Spain, to Jerusalem.

His brother was still in college when Walter told him how he planned to express his faith.

“I told him if that’s what he needs to do, that’s what he needs to do,” his brother said.

Walter’s pilgrimages included walks through India, the former Soviet Union and, one summer, a walk from Hampton to Mexico accompanied by a donkey.

In 2013, Walter ended his long-distance treks with a pilgrimage through Ohio.

He spent the last 10 years of his life surrounded by fields of corn in a small house on the grounds of the former Holy Trinity Byzantine Monastery in Butler County.

Walter penned two books: “A Pilgrim Finds the Way,” which was published in 1988, and “The 40 Thousand Mile Man: Odyssey of a Pilgrim” in 2019.

Tom Walter said his brother’s humble nature led George to build his own casket using wood from cherry, hickory and black walnut trees. Funeral arrangements are being handled by the Perman Funeral Home.

“The world is now short one very holy person,” Tom Walter said.