Preservationist Roy Walters of Enterprise, a Volusia County trails backer, is remembered

Mark Harper, The Daytona Beach News-Journal
Updated ·2 min read
Roy Walters, an Enterprise resident who died on March 30, was a preservationist and co-founder of Ocean Optics Inc., later renamed Ocean Insight, a company that developed a miniature spectrometer that was used to study the optical properties of the Hope Diamond.
Roy Walters, an Enterprise resident who died on March 30, was a preservationist and co-founder of Ocean Optics Inc., later renamed Ocean Insight, a company that developed a miniature spectrometer that was used to study the optical properties of the Hope Diamond.

Roy Walters, an Enterprise transplant who became one of the tiny Volusia County historic community's most enthusiastic preservationists, died on March 30 in Driggs, Idaho, his second home. He was 81.

In 2001, he moved to Enterprise, a 19th-century resort and the seat of Volusia County from 1854 until 1887. At the time, Enterprise was in the throes of a decade-long battle over the development of a 40-acre parcel known as the Thornby property, a fight that became his passion.

"The more we learned about Enterprise, the more we wanted to make sure it wasn't annihilated," his wife Sandra Walters said.

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By 2011, Deltona and Volusia County bought the property, turning it into a city park and part of Volusia's Spring-to-Spring trail.

School building restoration

With that fight won, the Walters and other Enterprise preservationists turned their attention to the restoration of a 1936 school building they envisioned as a historic museum and had previously convinced the Volusia County School Board to donate.

The Enterprise Preservation Society posted on its Facebook page that Walters was its treasurer "and prime benefactor" who donated the land where the school building was moved, later training and leading volunteers to refurnish the woodwork, doors, and other fixtures ahead of the Enterprise Museum's 2014 grand opening.

"It is no exaggeration to say that the Enterprise Museum would not exist but for his generosity," the post continued.

Walters was born in 1941 in Oceanside, New York, and grew up in Wantagh on Long Island.

He earned a doctorate in nuclear engineering and worked for Martin Marietta, later known as Lockheed Martin, in Huntsville, Alabama, where he was on loan to NASA in the 1970s. He later joined the University of Florida as a professor.

There, he assisted the Navy with particle beam technology and was sent to the Soviet Union as part of the strategic defense initiative science exchange program, Sandra Walters said. He later taught at the University of Central Florida.

Ocean Optics

Walters capped his career by co-founding Ocean Optics Inc., in 1989.

According to the since-renamed Ocean Insight Inc., Walters developed the "world's first miniature fiber optic spectrometer" and a laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy system. He helped study the optical properties of the Hope Diamond, a blue, 45.52-carat stone now on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

His 2006 retirement gave him more time to pursue his passions, including cycling. He was a member of the local Transportation Planning Organization's Bicycle-Pedestrian Advisory Committee and participated in Volusia County's adopt-a-trail program.

In addition to his wife, Walters is survived by two sons, Jason and Alan.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Roy Walters of Enterprise supported historic preservation and trails