In his inaugural column, he wrote, "My major project is a serious but lighthearted discourse -- utilizing experiences as elected official, bureaucrat, and lobbyist -- aimed at helping citizens, notably those turned off by politics, better understand why it's a matter of great self-interest for them to get involved". In his last column, he wrote, "We're certainly not perfect, but our system of government of, for and by the people provides unlimited ways and means for setting things right... I'd like to see a massive movement in the U.S., totally dedicated to demanding truthfulness in all political rhetoric ... A pipe dream? Maybe, but we can work at it. Surely we can do better than we're doing now." And along the way, in his column of November, 1991, he wrote that "... reason will accomplish more than rancor. This tracks a saying I've tried personally to live by: 'Where there's good will, there's a way!'"

    Mission accomplished, Mr. Richter. Mission accomplished.

WALTER H. RICHTER Reprinted from the Austin American Statesman     Walter H. Richter, former Texas state senator, died September 8, 2003, at his Austin home.     Walter Hoppe Richter was born September 17, 1916, in the Double Horn community southeast of Marble Falls, Texas. Four months before Richter's birth, his father, Walter Herman Richter, died accidentally. Richter and his sister Esther Marie were raised by their mother, Bertha Lenore Hoppe Richter, and grandfather, George Hoppe, on the family homestead, which had been settled in the mid- 1800's by their German immigrant ancestors. The family survived the Great Depression through subsistence farming, cotton picking, perseverance, and frugality.     After graduating from Marble Falls High School in 1934, Richter attended Southwest Texas State Teacher's College (now Texas State University). He became a member of the White Stars, a secret campus political organization (of which Lyndon Johnson was a founding member). Richter was elected editor of the school newspaper and student body president. He received a B. A. in 1938 and an M. A. in 1939. After graduation, Richter organized and ran the journalism department at his alma mater, receiving a B. J. degree from the University of Texas in 1942.     In 1938, Richter met first-year student Dorothy Jean Sample of Stockdale, Texas: "I was a smart alec graduate student at the time and my reaction was Wow!" They were married June 14, 1941.     During World War II, Richter served in the Navy as a supply officer in Ipitanga, Brazil. After the war, he purchased a small-town