Walter J. Ernst was born to Justin and Daftna Johnson Ernst in 1922. He graduated from Chapman High School in Dickinson County, Kansas and attended York College in York, Nebraska. He served in the Army Air Corps during World War II. He married Laverna Bistline in 1945 in Bistline, Kansas. He worked for Ehrsams Foundry, Enterprise, and The Eisenhower Center, Abilene, KS. He and his wife had three children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Courtesy newspapers.com, findagrave.com