William "Bill" Martin Wallace

Obituary

William “Bill” M. Wallace was born in his grandparent’s home in rural Shelbina, MO to Vernon and Genevieve Wallace in 1931. Two years later, the young Wallace family moved to a newly built house about a quarter mile down the road. Vernon and Genevieve built a successful dairy business and ran the town’s flower shop. 

While growing up, Bill, for grades 1 through 5, walked to a one room schoolhouse over a mile away. He attended middle school and high school in newly consolidated county schools in the town of Shelbina. A little known fact was while in high school, Bill attended a seminary for a year. 

After a year at Rockhurst College in Kansas City, Bill joined the Air Force in 1950. His tour included stops in places such as Tule Greenland, South Dakota, Wichita Falls and the California desert. He quickly rose to the rank of Tech Sargent before ending his enlistment in 1954. After 3 more years at Rockhurst and some time at his dad’s dairy, using the GI Bill, he started at Georgetown Law. He graduated with his JD in 1960. While at Georgetown he met his wife, Teresa Alfaro, who happened to live in the apartment building across the street.

They married in 1963. Living first in an apartment near Rosslyn, they bought their first house in Vienna in 1965 and then to the Arlington residence near Crystal City where they lived for 49 years until my mother passed in April 2019. 

He worked on the Hill for Sen Wilbur Mills immediately after law school. After a short stint at the VA, he worked at the Naval Air Systems Command until he retired in 1993. He worked on several high visibility contracts including the Sparrow and Sidewinder Missiles, two stints on the F-14 fighter program, the E2C electronic warfare program and the F-18 program while it was in the development phase. 

In retirement, he busied himself with researching genealogy and visiting family throughout the country. He travelled throughout Europe with Tere. He became very involved in various activities such as Meals on Wheels and working weekly at a soup kitchen in Southeast DC. He was active with the Knights of Columbus and Malta. 

Bill lived his last five years at the Hermitage, an assisted living home in Alexandria. He passed in his sleep on February 2nd, 2025. He is survived by his three sons, Ed, Dan and David Wallace; and seven grandchildren, Sean, Sarah, Kevin, Christian, Kara, Kaleigh, and Adelaine Wallace. He is also survived by his sisters Kathleen Becker and Marylyn Denman and his brother Fr. Don Wallace. 

Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. on Thursday the 13th of February at Cunningham Turch Funeral Home in Alexandria, VA. A funeral mass will be held at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Arlington, VA at 10:30 a.m. on Friday the 14th of February with a short reception afterwards.