Walter Glen Starks Sr.

Walter Glen Starks, Sr. - or Glen, as he was known to everyone who knew him – died peacefully at home Tuesday, April 16, 2024 at the age of 89.

While he was known as “Glen” to the community, he was a man of many titles. Some of his favorites were Dad, Papaw, Pops, and Uncle Glen. Glen was born in New Mexico, but his parents longed for the piney woods, so they brought the family back to Sabine Parish. Fourth of ten children, Glen grew up on the farm, and began the exploration of a never-ending love of the woods. In his heart, he was a farm boy for the rest of his life.

He remembered walking across Highway 118 after class at Mt. Carmel Elementary to get candy at George Addison’s Gulf Station store. He told stories of camping in the woods, early morning farm chores, home-made biscuits from scratch, and what it was like to court a girlfriend when you had to ride a bike in the dark just to have a “date” sitting on her front porch.

Glen was determined to go to college. He planted trees, dug ditches, and worked one summer in the oil field to earn enough money to pay his way through LSU. He said a can of beans was his supper on many a night. He thrived and graduated with a business degree.

A few years after graduation he went back to Baton Rouge to work for the LSU Student Union, eventually rising to the role of Business Manager. It was one of the most impactful experiences of his professional life.

Sabine Parish was never far from his heart or thoughts, though. He dreamed of a life interwoven with business and the forest. If you’ve been in the area for long, you might remember Glen’s hardware store in Florien. Maybe you had tamales with him at the S&S Restaurant. Perhaps you saw him drinking coffee in the corner booth at Fox’s Pizza or saw him behind the counter serving up breakfast when the Gulf Station Café came to life after 50 years of dormancy. Glen was an inspiration, a heartbeat, behind each of those dreams. In fact, he never stopped dreaming of his next big project.

In the woods or in the seat of a tractor is where Glen felt most connected. He was always on the tractor. He wore out the old John Deere and was well into wearing out the next farm tractor! Few things proved more glorious than seeing a crop of peas, or beans, or tomatoes flourish. Joy, for him, was sitting on the front porch of what he called “the camp,” his one room cabin in the woods by Toro creek, listening to the birds, silently marveling in the beauty of a doe and fawn in the early morning mist, a turkey taking flight to the trees, or butterflies and bees on the never-ending wildflowers of the field. In fact, Glen talked of having his ashes scattered under the canopy of an oak tree his grandson planted on the lower 80 acres; that is, until a beaver chopped down the tree one night. Well, that’s just the way of things in the woods, and in life. Bless you and thank you, Glen, for sharing with us, your family and friends, as you journeyed through the woods and the fields. This year’s garden is planted. The peas are coming up. The cucumbers and tomatoes are blooming. We will take good care of it for you.

Since Glen built fellowship and community wherever he went, we will celebrate his life with a memorial service followed with a potluck meal at the Mt. Carmel Baptist Church at 10:00 a.m., Saturday, June 15, 2024. The community is invited to bring a dish and join the family for the service and meal.

Those left to cherish Glen’s memories are his four children, Walter Starks, Jr., Bubs Starks, John Starks and wife, Lori, and Kathryn Urban and husband, Mike; seven grandchildren, Danica Starks, Kira Starks, Steven Sloop, III and wife, Anna, Gage Sloop, Emma Hendrix and husband, Adam, Justin Urban, and Ella Starks; two great-grandchildren, Amelia Hendrix and Ariel Sloop; two brothers, Clifford Starks and Joe Starks; three sisters, Jean Weldon, Jerri Lampin, and Joy Starks; one very special sister-in-law, Pat Starks; a host of nieces and nephews; and a community of friends. Glen was welcomed home by his parents, Wylie Starks, Sr. and Mary Starks; two brothers, Wylie Starks, Jr. and Charles Starks; and two sisters, Doris Cobb and Delight Gable. 

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to Florien High School FFA, 500 High School Dr., Florien, LA 71429; Mt. Carmel Baptist Church, 5049 Hwy 118, Florien, LA 71429; or St. Jude Children’s Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105.