Dr. Walter Eugene Arms, 84, passed away peacefully in Dalton, GA, early Monday, June 29, 2020. He was surrounded and supported by loving family and friends. Dr. Arms was born in Maryville, MO, on October 21, 1935, and attended high school and college there at Northwest Missouri State College and was an active alumnus.

He is preceded in death by his parents, Gilbert Meredith Arms and Blanche Marguerite Smith Arms, and his sister Myrna Arms Lawson.

Walt is survived by his beloved wife Marianna Meacham Howard Wakelin Arms; children, Deborah Arms Smoot (James), Denise Arms Williams (William), James Frederick Wakelin (Martha), and Abbie Wakelin Hyde (Stephan); grandchildren, Taylor Smoot (Courtney), Joshua Smoot, Rachel Williams, Benjamin Williams, Alexander Hyde, Andrew Hyde, Henry Wakelin, Eva Marie Wakelin; great grandson Caden Williams, great granddaughter Allison Smoot; brothers Robert Arms (Karan), Charles Arms (Anita), sister Donna Arms Roush (Edwin), brother-in-law Palmer Lawson; and first wife Karen Gardner Arms.

Dr. Arms earned a B.S.Ed., Northwest Missouri State College, 1957; M.Ed., State University of South Dakota at Vermillion, 1963; Ed.D., Indiana University at Bloomington, 1968. He was an Associate Professor at the University of Akron, 1968-1989, West Georgia College at Dalton State College, 1989-1993, Director of the Elementary School at Berry College, 1993-2001. He retired from the U.S. Army Reserve in 1995 as a Lieutenant Colonel. He was a Son of the American Revolution, and a Mason. He served on the Board of the American Red Cross, Dalton; was a disaster relief coordinator; was a guardian ad litem of the Juvenile Court, Dalton; member of St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Dalton.

There will be a private service at Ponders Funeral Home, Thursday, at 12 P.M., with burial to follow at the Chattanooga National Cemetery.

If desired, donations can be made in his name to Northwest Georgia Parkinson Disease Support Group, P.O. Box 6062, Dalton, GA 30722-6062, and the Dalton State College Foundation, Royal Oaks Scholarship Fund, at 650 College Dr., Dalton, GA 30720, or at www.daltonstate.edu/giving for the Royal Oaks Scholarships fund.

Condolences may be expressed to the family at www.pondersfuneralhome.com .
Arrangements by Ponders Melrose Chapel 138 Melrose Drive Dalton, GA

30721, 706-226-4002