Willy August Christian Wolter

Willy August Christian Wolter of Venice, Florida, entered eternal life on April 29, 2025.

Willy was born on November 14, 1930 in College Point, New York, to German immigrant parents Willie and Erna Wolter. He graduated from Huntington High School on Long Island, NY, and earned a Bachelor’s degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Purdue University, where he attended classes with Neil Armstrong and was a member of the Boilermaker Rowing Team. He also served two years of active duty in the United States Navy as an engineering technician.

Willy worked for Grumman Aerospace Corporation in Bethpage, New York, for over 36 years, where he worked on a variety of projects, including the Apollo Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), the Space Shuttle, and the F-14 Tomcat fighter jet, advancing to group leader and becoming Grumman’s technical specialist in thermodynamics and structural analysis. At Grumman, Willy met “an attractive willowy blonde with a bouncy ponytail, named Mello”, who would become his wife.

He was active in his church, Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, serving in many capacities including Sunday School teacher, president of the church council and president of the men’s club. Willy was also active in the German Steuben Society and served as president. He enjoyed gardening, wood working, model railroading, restoring his 1955 Thunderbird, building radio control airplanes and fixing anything that was broken. In 1996, he and his wife Mello moved to Venice, Florida, where he was active in a variety of community activities and committees, serving as treasurer of the Grumman Southwest Retirement Club, singing in community men’s choruses, and was an active member of Trinity Presbyterian Church. Willy loved traveling and enjoyed planning trips.

He is survived by Marilyn, his loving wife of 67 years; a daughter Cindy Lynch and her husband David of Freehold, NJ; two sons: Michael of Fort Worth, Texas, and Paul and his wife Jeannette of Hollywood, Maryland; four grandchildren: Timothy Lynch and his wife Emily, Benjamin Lynch, Samantha Wolter, and Jakob Wolter; one great-grandson Rory Lynch; one brother, Karl and his wife Dianne of Williamston, Michigan, and a brother-in-law Roland Flynn of Hackettstown, N.J. He is predeceased by a sister Annamarie Flynn.

A memorial service will be held at Trinity Presbyterian Church, Venice, on May 10, 2025. The family invites guests to a 10 a.m. visitation with a memorial service to follow at 11 a.m. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.