Founder of the W&OD Trail and Regional Park Authority Dies at 99

Walter L. Mess, the man responsible for founding the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority and the W&OD Trail, died Sunday.

Mess is survived by four children and 10 grandchildren and was preceded in death by his wife of 62 years, Jean.

“Considering that each year there are millions of uses of the regional park system that Walter helped create, few, if any, have left the kind of lasting legacy that Walter Mess has. He will be remembered and missed by all who knew him,” Paul Gilbert, NVRPA Executive Director, said in a press release. 

According to Murphy’s Funeral Home, Mess was born Dec. 20, 1914 in Falls Church.

A viewing for Mess will be held at the funeral home, located at 1102 W. Broad St. in Falls Church, on Saturday from 6-8 p.m. and Sunday from 2-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m.

A funeral mass at Saint James Catholic Church, 509 Park Ave. in Falls Church, will be held on Monday at 10 a.m. A private internment will follow mass.

See: Walter Mess Plaza Dedication Set for Sunday

Mess Plaza Dedicated in Falls Church

“Our friend and long-time colleague, Walter Mess, had a dream – the preservation of unspoiled areas of natural beauty and places of historic significance for the enjoyment of Northern Virginians far into the future,” NVRPA Board member David Pritzker from the City of Alexandria said in an NVRPA release. “ Through more than a half century of inspiration, political acumen and just plain hard work, Walter achieved that dream and lived to see the success of the legacy he created for all of us.”

According to the release, Mess founded the organization in 1959 after working for about 10 years to get state authorization to create a regional park and served as an NVRPA board member for 45 years.

The park system is made up of more than 10,000 acres and spans from Loudoun County to Washington, D.C. with the 45-mile W & OD Trail, which was founded in 1974 in Falls Church.

In 1939, Mess was recruited by a professor at Georgetown University Law School to join the British Secret Service and was given a mission to parachute into areas of Poland and Czechoslovakia controlled by Nazis, according to the release. When the U.S. entered the war, Mess joined the Office of Strategic Services (predecessor to the CIA) and conducted commando missions into North Africa prior to the Allied invasion, according to the release.

Mess also commanded a U.S. Navy speedboat that patrolled the waters around Burma and later received honorary Green Beret status for his bravery and innovation in special operations.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donating to either the Northern Virginia Regional Park Foundation - 5400 Ox Rd., Fairfax Station, VA 22309, or www.novaparks.org - or the Special Operations Warrior Foundation - P.O. Box 89367, Tampa, FL 33689 or www.specialops.org.

Did you ever meet Walter Mess? If so, share your memories of him in the comments below.