Walter "Tim" Christy, an avid outdoorsman and longtime police official in Fawn, died Monday. He was 66.

Mr. Christy served 36 years with the township police department, as patrolman, chief for 14 years and superintendent.

A native of Fawn, he served in the Army in Italy from 1959 to 1962. Afterward, he married and worked in brickyards and as a coal miner before beginning his police career.

Mr. Christy and his wife of 44 years, Linda, raised their two children in Fawn, next door to his childhood home and his parents and brother.

Though his cause of death was undetermined yesterday, family friend and colleague Lee Torbin said Mr. Christy had received weekly dialysis treatment for kidney failure for more than a year and was awaiting a transplant.

Mr. Christy was passionate about his community involvement, said his son, Tim Christy, also of Fawn.

"He was well-respected by his peers, but even more so by the folks that lived out here," said Mr. Torbin, a former homicide detective with the Allegheny County police, who met Mr. Christy almost 40 years ago. "Tim knew everybody, and everybody knew Tim."

Mr. Christy's adventurous spirit led him to frequent Cooks Forest, where he upheld a tradition -- started by his father -- of visiting the family camp. An avid fisherman and hunter, Mr. Christy enjoyed spending free time and weekends at the cabin with his family and grandson.

"It was his getaway," said Mr. Torbin. "He turned me into a country boy," he said, explaining that Mr. Christy had persuaded and helped him to remodel an old farmhouse and move to Fawn from his home in Pittsburgh.

In addition to his wife and son, Mr. Christy is survived by his daughter, Traci Ferguson of Leechburg; brothers Fred Hahn of Fawn and Dennis Forsythe of Valparaiso, Fla.; and his grandson.

Visitation will be today from 6 to 8 p.m. and tomorrow from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. at Duster Funeral Home in Tarentum. A funeral service will be held there at 11 a.m. Friday, with burial to follow in Mount Airy Cemetery in Natrona Heights.