Date Of Birth: March 12, 1921
Date Of Death: January 16, 2010

James Merle Halter, 88, died January 16, 2010, in Indianapolis. He was born March 12, 1921, in St. Louis, Missouri to Ernest Adolph and Viola Langford Halter. When he was two, he and his father, a young attorney, were crossing a street in downtown St. Louis when they were hit by a teenage driver. His father died shielding him. He grew up in St. Louis with his mother and maternal grandparents and spent summers on the Halter dairy farm in Flucom, Missouri. He recalled accompanying his grandfather in a carriage as they rode the Methodist church circuit. James graduated from Soldan High School in St. Louis. He participated in activities at the neighborhood Young Men’s Hebrew Association and was president of its men’s youth group, the Novicks. He attended Washington University and earned his law degree there. He volunteered for service in World War II and was a co-pilot on a B-24 Liberator in Africa and Europe in the Army Air Corps. He continued in the Air Force Reserve in the JAG Corps until his retirement as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1980.James practiced law in DeSoto, Missouri, and served as City Attorney. He later worked at the US Army Finance Center in St. Louis and the Department of Labor in Des Moines, Iowa. He returned to the Finance Center and moved with it to Fort Benjamin Harrison where he became Legal Advisor, the general counsel of the legal office, including civilian and military attorneys. He retired with over thirty years of service. He was admitted to the US Supreme Court.He met Roberta May Radley in her father’s bakery (his family was fond of bakery goods and would send him to pick them up), and they were married on July 26, 1947. They had three children, Christine Plews (George), Fred Halter and Nancy Halter. They celebrated 62 years of marriage and four grandsons, Arthur, Matthew, Noah and Lincoln Plews.James and Roberta enjoyed attending reunions of the 780th Bomb Squadron throughout the United States and hosted the national reunion in Indianapolis in 2007. They also traveled extensively with their children and hosted three American Field Service foreign exchange students, Monica Machado, Ture Jensen, and Felipe Real. James was active for 46 years in the Brendon Park Civic Association. He participated in Indian Guides and Boy Scouts with Fred. He was a member of Trinity Episcopal Church for 57 years, and he sang in the choir and was an usher and in the Junior Vestry. In his retirement, he exercised diligently at the Ransburg YMCA. He looked forward to meetings of the Second Wednesday Club of Finance Center retirees and M.O.A.A., and he attended his grandsons’ sporting and school events.Calling will be Friday, January 22, from 4 to 7 p.m. in the Fortune Room at Trinity Episcopal Church and Saturday, January 23, at 1 p.m. with the funeral service following at 2 p.m. He will be buried with military honors at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis on January 25 at 1:30 p.m.Memorial contributions may be made to the St. Richard’s School Foundation, 33 East 33rd St., Indianapolis, IN 46205 or Trinity Episcopal Church, 3243 N. Meridian St., Indianapolis, IN 46208.