Mobile, Alabama, is mourning the loss of James “Walter” Hensley II, a beloved 19-year-old who died on July 1, 2026, after a fire broke out at a hunting camp in Evergreen, Alabama.
Hensley, a 2025 graduate of St. Paul’s Episcopal School, had just finished his freshman year at the University of Alabama.
He was one of two young men from Mobile who lost their lives in the early morning blaze, alongside fraternity brother McNeil Mosteller. The tragedy has left friends, classmates, and the wider Mobile community searching for ways to honor his memory.
A Life Full of Faith, Sports, and Friendship
Family and friends describe Walter as someone who lit up every room he entered. He was known for his warmth, his humor, and a smile that people say they will never forget. Those close to him often joked that Walter never had a bad day.
At St. Paul’s, he built a reputation as both a strong student and a standout multi-sport athlete. Some highlights from his high school years include:
- Two-year letterman in golf, football, and basketball
- Recipient of the Gerry Strange Multi-Sport Athlete Award for boys in his senior year
- Voted Most Athletic by his senior class
He carried that same energy into college, where he studied business at the University of Alabama and made the Dean’s List during the 2025 to 2026 school year. Like his older brothers before him, he joined the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, continuing a family tradition that traced back to his grandfather’s own college fraternity days in Kentucky.
Family, Faith, and a Community Coming Together
Walter is remembered as a devoted son, grandson, and brother. He is survived by his parents, his two brothers, several grandparents, and a wide circle of aunts, uncles, and cousins spread across Alabama, Kentucky, West Virginia, North Carolina, and Mississippi.
His Celebration of Life took place on Tuesday, July 7, at Dauphin Way United Methodist Church in Mobile. Visitation began at 10 a.m. in the church’s Parish Hall, followed by the service at 11 a.m. Friends who served as honorary pallbearers included several of the young men who grew up alongside him.
Rather than flowers, the family asked that donations be directed to two causes close to Walter’s heart:
- The St. Paul’s Episcopal School Foundation, in his memory
- Dauphin Way United Methodist Church
Local coverage from WKRG News 5 noted that Hensley and several fraternity brothers, all from the Mobile area, had traveled together to the hunting camp when the fire started, a trip meant to be a fun getaway that instead turned into tragedy for two families.
As the Mobile community continues to grieve, those who knew Walter say his legacy will live on through the countless people whose lives he touched, on the golf course, in the classroom, and in everyday moments of kindness that friends say defined who he was.
