Walter Raybert Nims was born in Sumas, Washington on February 23, 1910 on the family farm. He first worked driving logging trucks and owned and operated a new Diamond-T truck.
Walter married Vera Jeanett Ehlers. Vera was born 1918 in Lynden, Washington. Walter and Jeanette purchased a farm north and east of Lynden and raised strawberries. He worked in Alaska on construction during the war and after the war he purchased a bulldozer which he operated. He worked as an equipment operator until he retired. Walter loved to fish and hunt and converted a van to a traveling home to use when he was hunting. Eventually Walter and Jeanette divorced. Jeanette died January 31, 1986 at age 67.
Walter married Hilda Kozier November 24, 1957, and married several times thereafter. Walter lived in Lynden for many years after his retirement, then moved to Everson where Walter lived up to the time of his death in Lynden, Washington in 1996 at age 85.
Walter and Jeanett had the following children:
| Sidney Louis "Skip" Nims | Born in 1935 |
| Delores Ann Nims | Born in 1938 |
| Jay Reginald Nims | Born in 1941 |
| Nancy Kay Nims | Born in 1946 |