Walter Shurcliff Worthington

Walter "Walt" Shurcliff Worthington, 49, died peacefully at home in the early morning hours of June 12, 2026, after several months of battling a rare and very aggressive form of cancer. Born in 1977 on a U.S. Air Force Base in Northern Japan, he first set foot in the United States in 1978 and was raised in Greenville, South Carolina.

Walter attended the Greenville Fine Arts Center during high school, focusing primarily on metalsmithing. Aftergraduation, he served for 18 months in Haifa, Israel, as avolunteer in the Baha’i Gardens. From Israel he traveled to Ethiopia and spent five months going by bus, camel, truck, jeep, and foot from village to village, attempting to meet as many of the Baha’is of that country as possible.

In 1998 Walter went to Fez, Morocco, to study Arabic. When he moved back to the United States in 2000, he worked first as a jeweler and then settled for several years in Sebastian, Florida, where he owned a small business plaza and became a proficient surfer and fisherman.

Throughout his life, Walter enjoyed traveling and learning aboutdifferent cultures. In addition to places already mentioned, he spent time in Canada, England, Ireland, China, Ukraine, Russia, Uganda, Kenya, Eritrea, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama, the Caribbean Islands, Italy, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand.

Suffering from worsening health, Walter returned to Greenville in 2015. Whenever possible he hiked in the Blue Ridge Mountains, often spending the night on a hammock strung between trees and cooking supper over a small fire. He sketched, painted, experimented with making music with a synthesizer, baked sourdough bread, and delighted in cooking tasty dishes he had sampled during his travels.

Walter is survived by his parents, Frances and John Worthington, and by his sister, Elizabeth Rose, along with her husband, Tom Mann, and their two sons.

Walter was buried in the Memory Gardens in Central, South Carolina, on June 16, 2026.