Walter Raymond Hylander, Jr. 91, a retired Army colonel, died May 9, 2016 at Merit Hospital in Natchez.
A private family funeral service will be held at Rosswood Plantation, Lorman, MS. Burial will be in Como, MS.
Col. Hylander was born July 22, 1924, the son of Walter and Mary Douglass Hylander of Como, MS. He graduated from Como High School 1941 and at age 17 he entered the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, NY. He graduated in 1945, near the top of his class, into the US Army Corps of Engineers. He later earned a master’s degree in Civil Engineering from M.I.T. He also graduated from various military schools including the Naval War College. He was a registered professional engineer and a Fellow American Society of Civil Engineers.
During 29 years of duty in the Army, Colonel Hylander commanded combat engineer units from platoon to brigade serving in the United States, Canada, England, Germany and Viet Nam.
He supervised construction projects in Vicksburg, MS, in Germany, in Canada and in Viet Nam. Other assignments included Asst Prof of Physics at West Point, Army staff officer for geodetic satellites & lunar mapping, Chairman NATO Panel of Experts on  Land Mine Warfare, Senior Advisor for Engineer Training in Vietnam and Army member of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. His final post was Deputy Commandant of the Army Engineer School, where he conceived and developed major revisions to engineer unit training, a concept endorsed by General Westmoreland and adopted Army-wide as the “ARTEP’ program.
Colonel Hylander was awarded more than 20 decorations including the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, two Commendation Medals and the Viet Nam Campaign Medal with four battle stars.
Following his retirement from the Army in 1974, he developed and conducted a construction training program for Bechtel Corporation, that placed several hundred young men and women into jobs at the Grand Gulf Nuclear Power Plant, near Port Gibson, MS. He then planned and began a complete education and training program for Jubail, a new city of 400,000 in Saudi Arabia.
While at Vicksburg in 1951, he met and married Marjorie Jean Gunter from Grenada, MS. She created a home for their family in more than 20 different locations. She was cited by the military for outstanding achievements in London, England, Munich, Germany, and Fort Belvoir, VA. She was particularly adept at making young Army wives feel welcome in strange new places. After retirement from the Army and in looking for a place to live near Grand Gulf, Walt and Jean found their dream home.
It was an authentic antebellum mansion, rundown but restorable in Lorman, MS. With Walt restoring and Jean decorating, they made Rosswood Plantation into a showplace of the Old South. It became a popular tourist attraction, a bed and breakfast inn, and a thriving Christmas tree farm, visited by thousands. Quiet, smart, kind, resolute, a thinker and a doer-these are words that describe Walt. He loved sports, playing baseball, football and tennis in high school, softball, football and cross country at West Point and sking and rugby at M.I.T.
The road for Walt and Jean was not always easy, but together they created a lot of great memories. Their favorite sayings was “The world is still a banquet, and we’re still at the table”
Colonel Hylander is listed in “Who’s Who in Science and Engineering,” “Who’s Who in Finance and Industry,” “Who’s Who in America,” and “Who’s Who in the World.”
He is survived by his widow, Jean of Rosswood Plantation, Lorman, MS; son, Ray Hylander of Jackson; a daughter, Joy Boswell of Phoenix, AZ; a brother, Charles Hylander of Olney, MD; and four grandchildren that he loved; Alyssa Joy Hylander Petty, Hayley Ross Hylander, Hannale Jean Hylander, Haaken Hylander Boswell; and beloved friend, Peggy Rogers of Fayette, MS.

SARDIS––Christine Edmond Montgomery, 78, died Sunday, May 1, 2016, at her residence.
Services were held May 7 at Mt. Level Church in Como. Burial was in the church cemetery.
Montgomery, born Oct. 20, 1937, to the late Ed Edmond and Jennie Hibbler Edmond, was a member of Mt. Level Church.