Father Walter E. Casey, former pastor of Infant Jesus Parish, Brookline, who would have celebrated the 60th anniversary of his ordination on May 6, died on Feb. 21 at St. Joseph Manor, Brockton. He had been in declining health for a number of years.?Born in Lynn and raised in Immaculate Conception Parish, Everett, he attended the parish’s grammar school and Everett High School before entering Boston College as a member of the class of 1945. Responding to his vocation he moved across Commonwealth Avenue to St. John’s Seminary to complete his seminary studies.?Archbishop Richard Cushing ordained him at Holy Cross Cathedral and gave him his first priestly assignment as an assistant at St. Ann Parish, Marshfield. During the next several years he would serve as an assistant at other archdiocesan parishes: St. Colman of Cloyne, Brockton; Sacred Heart, Lexington; St. Bridget, Abington; and St. Raphael, Medford.?He was named a temporary chaplain at Bethany Convent, Framingham in February 1955 and in April of that year, he received permission to join the Chaplains Corps of the United States Army. For more than 20 years he would serve as a chaplain for Army troops in Germany, Japan, Vietnam and Alaska. He retired as European Command Chaplain with the rank of colonel in 1975. He told The Pilot that “It was a very rewarding experience to serve the young men and women in the military.”?He returned to the archdiocese and served in archdiocesan parishes; first as an associate at St. Thomas Aquinas, Bridgewater, and then in December 1976 Cardinal Humberto Medeiros named him pastor at St. Rose of Lima Parish, Chelsea. He served there until Cardinal Bernard Law named him pastor at Infant Jesus Parish in Brookline in October 1987.?On Feb. 13, 1996 Cardinal Law accepted Father Casey’s request to resign as pastor at Infant Jesus due to poor health. He retired initially to his own home in Marshfield, but more recently had resided at St. Joseph Manor, Brockton.?Father Donald Clifford was scheduled to be the celebrant of Father Casey’s funeral at Our Lady of the Assumption Church, Marshfield on Feb. 27. One of Father Casey’s classmates, Msgr. Albert Contons was scheduled to be the homilist and concelebrants included Father Richard Erikson, vicar general of the archdiocese, Msgr. William Glynn, and Fathers John Burns and Charles Logue, all senior priests of the archdiocese. ?Following his funeral Mass, Father Casey was buried in St. Mary Cemetery, Lynn.