Michael J. Walts

Mr. Walts died Thursday, July 8, 2004, at Central Kansas Medical Center in Great Bend.

He was born April 10, 1950, in Hays, the son of Claire Edgar and Edna Lucille Hocker Walts.

Mr. Walts received a Bachelor of Science degree from Fort Hays State University and a law degree from Kansas University. He received certifications from the National Graduate Trust School and Trust Management School at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., and the Graduate School of Bank Investments at the University of Oklahoma.

Mr. Walts had lived in Great Bend since 1988, where he was president and CEO of First United National Bank and Trust. He later became first vice president of Commercial Federal Bank. He was president and CEO of American State Bank in Great Bend at the time of his death.

Mr. Walts was a member of Trinity Lutheran Church. He was a board member and former chairman of the Great Bend Chamber of Commerce, the Mid-Kansas Economic Development Board and the Barton County Community College Foundation. Mr. Walts also served on the Vision 2000 steering committee and the board of directors for Central Kansas Development Inc.

He was a member of the Kansas Bankers Assn., the Kansas Bar Assn., the Nebraska Bar Assn. and the Golden Belt Bankers Assn.

Mr. Walts married Mary Brandt on Oct. 1, 1981, in Las Vegas. She survives, of the home.

Other survivors include two sons, Nathan, Lawrence, and Taylor, Great Bend; a daughter, Courtney Walts, Wichita; two brothers, Charles O., San Marcos, Texas, and Timothy L., Hill City; and a sister, Judith Stricker, Hill City.

The family suggests memorials to the Christian Legal Organizations Alliance Defense Fund, First Presbyterian Church of Hill City or Idana Children’s Mission Fund at the Idana Presbyterian Church, sent in care of the Bryant Funeral home, 1425 Patton Road, Great Bend 67530.