Jeffrey Craig Walters (“Jeff”) left this life on Friday, January 30, 2026, two days short of his 82nd birthday, at Memorial Hospital in Santa Rosa, where he was being treated for blood clots. He had also been battling pancreatic cancer. Jeff was a courageous survivor with a strong will to live. He was born with a defective heart valve (replaced at age 40). At 11 he was hit by a car and suffered a spinal injury that plagued him life-long, despite corrective surgery. He had diabetes and epilepsy.

Born February 1, 1944, to Ruth and Llewellyn (“Lefty”) Walters in Lorain, Ohio, he is survived by his sister Susan Cardonick, his daughter Sunny Walters Roth, his son Star (Jeffrey) Walters, his son-in-law Lewy Roth, his grandson Addicus Roth, and nieces and nephews in Ohio and Florida.

His greatest passion was music. All Jeff really wanted to do was play music, and that is what he did. He taught himself music theory and remained devoted life-long to the craft. At age 15 he joined a rock band in his hometown, The Kings (playing a Stratocaster guitar, which he bought with money from a paper route) and eventually singing lead vocals. He also played with Robert “Red Top” Young, Lorain County blues pianist and band leader, and with Billy James and the Exciters. He joined the Musicians Union, local 146.

In his twenties, he toured with pop music star Andrea Carroll throughout the eastern United States and the Caribbean. By then he had acquired a Hammond B3 organ, a massively heavy instrument that had to be shipped from gig to gig and eventually across the country.

In 1970 he married Susan Emery, and in ’72 the couple moved to San Francisco. Their two children were born in 1971 and 1976. Jeff and Susan divorced in the early 80s.

His children fondly recall their dad playing and singing to any friends or visitors who dropped by the house. Jeff was a devoted fan of the Grateful Dead for over half a century, attending hundreds of concerts, often with his children (who are also Deadheads).

For many years, Jeff played in bars and nightclubs all over the Bay Area, hauling his Hammond to gigs. For a while, he had his own band, the Jeff Walters Trio. He also played with Natural Act and the pop reggae band, the Shakers (see https://www.youtube.com/watch…)

In 1990, he sold the Hammond and acquired electronic keyboards and also re-focused on playing guitar. His pride and joy in later years was his Parker Fly guitar. In the last decades of his life, when he lived in Petaluma, California, he established a one-man band and performed mostly in wineries.

Jeff created fifty cover songs (music by the Grateful Dead, the Beatles, Jimmy Hendrix and others) as well as an album of original tunes (Right on Time), all of which he re-mixed and polished over the years till they sparkled. None of the cover tunes (with one exception, “I Am the Walrus”) are exact copies of the originals. Jeff loved to embellish and add his own special touches. The songs may be listened to now on SoundCloud (https://soundcloud.com/jeffwa…)

Though he always got paid for gigs, that income didn’t pay all the bills. He also worked as a furniture salesman for several years, as a sales consultant for “Innovative Interiors,” and an automobile salesman. In the 90s, he was an account executive in the early telecomm industry.

Jeff was a curious and highly intelligent man with a passion for astronomy, archeology, history and science, as well as the arts. (In particular, he was devoted to the work of Salvador Dali). He was known for his wit and humor, as one of his doctors put it, even in the most difficult circumstances.

We love you and miss you, dear Jeff, wherever you may be now, perhaps across the universe checking out the cosmos and singing to the stars.

Send to someone

Share this obituary with others

https://everloved.com/life-of/jeffrey-craig-walters/obituary/

Copy