Walter Dundore was born September 10, 1896, in Philadelphia. He was married to Mary Ivy Ferris on October 23, 1920, in Reading, Pennsylvania. Four children were born to this marriage. Marjorie Dundore Chupa, Marvin W., Richard F. and William. Walter Dundore became nationally prominent as an industrial executive in the field of shop safety. For 35 years he served Beloit Corporation as Industrial Engineer, Superintendent and Pro-duction Manager. He supported the National Safety Council even after his retirement in 1961. He organized the Beloit Safety Council which he served as President. He also presided over the Wisconsin Council of Safety and as safety chairman for the Beloit Chapter of the American Red Cross.

In 1949 he received the J. Raymond Cox Safety Award. The youth of the Beloit area were much a part of Mr. Dundore’s life. He served the Stateline Council of Boy Scouts as a merit badge examiner, committeeman, scoutmaster and council president. In 1944 he was awarded the Silver Beaver for dis-tinguished service to boyhood. In 1950, under his direction, a Boy Scout Circus with 1500 Cubs, Scouts and Explorers participating, was held at the Walworth County Fairgrounds in Elkhorn. Mr. Dundore wrote the plan for the circus and arranged all activities connected with the event.

Being a local historian, Mr. Dundore was widely in demand as a speaker, collector and researcher. He was past chairman of the Wisconsin Council for Local History and the Beloit Historical Society. He was a member of the Historic Sites committee of the Wisconsin Historical Museum and served as its director up to the time of his death. He authored several historical papers and two books relative to the Pennsylvania Dutch influence in Wisconsin and Illinois. Mr. Dundore was a founder and charter member of the Ambassadors Beloit Association of Commerce.

In 1967 he was recognized as the Beloit Booster of the week. He was named president of the Ambassadors Club in 1972. For his efforts he received the Ambassador of the Year plaque. He was past president of the Beloit Rotary Club. Mr. Dundore was a lay preacher and past moderator of First Congregational Church. He was a veteran of World War I, the American Legion and was a member of the Rock County Republican Party for which he served as chairman in 1958. As an industrialist, he was a past president of the Rock River Chapter of Mechanical Engineers, a life member of the Industrial Management Society and a member of the Beloit Corporation Quarter Century Club. “Walter Dundore belonged to Beloit and Beloit belonged to him,” so said the Beloit Daily News upon the occasion of his death November 27, 1973. His was a long and productive life dedicated to his fellow Beloiters.