Richard Walters was educated, rich, and talented. He was also homeless:
Something distinguished Walters from any number of solvent, well-to-do Americans with seven-figure estates: He was homeless.
Walters was a retired engineer from AlliedSignal Corp.; an honors graduate of Purdue with a master’s degree; and a Marine. Walters never married, didn’t have children and was estranged from his brother. But he wasn’t friendless.
Rita Belle, a registered nurse, met Walters at a senior center 13 years ago.
“He always came in with a little backpack on and a cap on,” Belle tells Siegel. “And always kind of looked at me, but [was] very reserved. And I’m very outgoing and outspoken. So I said to him, ‘Hey, you got a minute can we sit down to visit?’ And we’d have coffee there at the senior center.”
Walters was also an atheist:
“He was an atheist and I’m a very profound practicing Catholic, and I’d never met an atheist,” Belle says. “And that just blew my mind that somebody could not believe in the Lord.”
“He just gave up all of the material things that we think we have to have,” Belle says. “You know, I don’t know how we gauge happiness. What’s happy for you might not be happy for me. I never heard him complain.”
Sounds like quite a guy. Wish I could have met him.
“And that just blew my mind that somebody could not believe in the Lord.”
Some people really need to get out more.
Some places are very insulated. I was reading on an Indiana message board (about Hoosier objections to an atheist ad) the other day and this statement came up an awful lot. “How is it possible for someone to not believe in God?” No need to answer that question here.
To be honest, that’s my general sentiment about people who do believe in God. I understand it from an objective standpoint of considering the psychology and sociology behind it, but on a personal level I still find it utterly astonishing that so many people really believe.
So it’s fair enough, especially if she was living in an area where he was the first one she’d ever met, so her whole life everyone around her as been religious (or she had believed so), that she’d feel similar.
in reply to Blue Nile’s>“And that just blew my mind that somebody could not believe in the Lord.”
Some people really need to get out more.
lol… sorry..i like the gentleman in the article..do not “need” imaginary sky fairies..in my life.
in reply to Penn–Blue Nile was referring to the nurse who said that, not to Mr Walters. As in, if you’ve never met an atheist, you really should get out more.
…and I’d never met an atheist,” Belle says.
I doubt that. But perhaps he had never met an open, acknowledged atheist.
I thought the story was going to be about him leaving money to fund atheist causes or something. What happened to the estate?
@DCtourists:
From the article:
Yeah, seems like a pretty cool dude.
the only reason this guy could “give up material possessions” is because he knew that no matter how hard it got, he always had back up money. that’s really dumb.
You’ve got to be kidding. That would have to be an incredible commitment to make and keep. Only someone with no backbone at all could believe this was an easy choice.
No way, man. Having an extreme comfort zone of knowing that you can get out of just about anything bad enough because you have money does make it easy. His commitment to sleeping on floors instead of, say, a motel, really does show his…well, commitment.
LOL ^
You know, I don’t think the point of the message was if he believed in god or not. Her surprise that he didn’t might be part of the story, but the real story was why was a very well to do man living on the streets?
The fact that he left the estate for somebody not because of god or because of anything other than friendship I think is wonderful.. I Think more rich people should do that. if the kids in the family don’t respect what it took to get that money or respect the fact that the money could go away, remind them. give it all to somebody else. he didn’t have anybody to give it too, so he left it to somebody that took the time to be a friend. Good man in my opinion.
Every time a rich person person DOES do that, the scorned family sue and end up making the result an economic nightmare for the charities that are supposed to get the money.
Often times they win at least a significant chunk of the money as well since they are entitled [self-censored for the good of everyone here].
I used to know a very well to do man who left his entire fortune to several charities after his children showed they were irresponsible. They ended up getting between 10-25% of the promised amounts after his children sued and ended up getting the rest on the claim that he was not ‘of sound mind’ when he decided to write them out of his will and give to those charities.
He’s got no wife nor children, or so the article says, so…
Is the “profound” as in a “profound illness”?
Hey, I commented similarly when I came across this article on stumbleupon.
The guy died a catholic according to the mission he donated to. Appearantly the woman had him baptised just after he had a stroke. We can’t judge anyone in retreating into the realms of fantasy lands and heavens especially not a terminally ill lonely old man dazed from whatever brain damage and medication his stroke and various operations might have caused. Personally, I like to think that due to his “lack of social skills” the woman who befriended him bled the crazy old guy dry for her 10% as executor. Given the fact that he had so many operations as described in the article I’ve linked below, the woman knew about his money well before he died.
I should point out that I’m an atheist too, but do so enjoy bleating misanthropy under stories like this.
Source(PDF): ‘A legacy of Redemption and Hope: Volunteer Nurse Helps Homeless Man Who Finds God and Rewards Mission of Mercy.
Big deal, with 4 mill in the bank having a home is strictly optional. You can buy what you need as you need it. In effect he rented his life instead of buying it. Kinda smart from an asset protection standpoint, since all his assets were in the bank.
He avoided the fortress mentality. In effect he was a cross between a Roma and a tourist.
Still, very cool.
This man is the epitome of Thoreau’s, “Walden.” Google that or watch “Into the Wild,” and tell me how much you agree.
Completely disagree. There’s nothing self sufficient about hoarding away a fortune and eating food given to poor people. Also, he never gave away any of his money or possessions like Chris McCandless, he simply didn’t talk to his living relatives and upon his death gave them to charities.
It is true what the lady said. I live in North Carolina and only a few days ago saw my first atheist (besides myself). I sort of figured it out when I was 13 that there is no God, just like I did with Santa Claus. I really didn’t even meet this guy, I was just driving and saw him with a Darwin fish on his car.
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it amuses me when rich people don’t spend their money and live like this guy. it’s nothing to praise or admire. it would be easy to live any way you wanted to knowing all the time you had millions in the bank if you really needed it. try living that way WITHOUT having that backup plan
My question would be, “How is it possible that anyone could believe in any god?” If you’re intelligent enough to earn your own living, you should be intelligent enough to recognize absurdities when you see them. But then, religion is easier than thinking.