Walter Lafette Sims was the 4th child of the 10 born to James H. Sims and wife Susannah Baker, in Sevier County TN. His father fought for the Union during the Civil War, before Walter was born. Walter marries Josie Virene Robertson 24 Mar 1900, and the young couple is living with Josie's parents and her siblings on the 1900 census.

Sometime later than year Walter and Josie, together with Josie's parents and all Josie's siblings move to Oklahoma. Walter and Josie's first child Dora is born in Oklahoma in January 1901. It seems likely that they were "Boomer Sooners" and left Tennessee to come to Oklahoma lured by the "great land lottery of 1901." During August 1901 surplus lands of certain reservations in Oklahoma were opened to settlement. About 165,000 homeseekers registered at Fort Sill and Fort Reno. There are old photos in library books showing throngs of people waiting. Officials then held a drawing to distribute the 15,000 homesteads. However Walter and his Robertson in-laws were not among the lucky few. Their census records in Oklahoma show them as renters, not owners.

Walter and Josie have 10 children, all born in Oklahoma and all outliving their parents. The family moved quite often. In Oklahoma Walter and Josie and family are found on census records in Seminole Indian Territory (1907), Dent in Pottawatomie County (1910), Wolf in Seminole County (1920 and 1930, but with a brief stint around 1924 in Texola Texas), Lincoln County OK (1935) and Midland, Pontotoc County (1940). Walter is listed as a farmer or oil field teamster, with a 3rd grade education.

Walter and Josie travel back to Sevier County, TN at least once, for a Sims family reunion. There are photos of Walter with daughter Lois, son-in-law Joe Miller, and granddaughter Eunice Irene [Davis] Miller, at a stop at Andrew Jackson's Hermitage in Tennessee, on the route.

Around 1944 Walter and Josie, their daughter Ola and her family, and their three youngest sons Clyde, O.C. and Vernon, move to Stanilaus County, California. Other Robertson relatives of Josie's relocate there around the same time. Walter dies of heart issues in a Modesto hospital, age 86.