Be True in Life to the Gospel of Jesus Christ

My Life's Creed:  I Would Be True

I would be true, for there are those who trust me;

I would be pure, for there are those who care;

I would be strong, for there are those who suffer;

I would be brave, for there is much to dare.

I would be friend of all--- the foe, the friendless;

I would be giving, and forget the gift;

I would be humble, for I know my weakness;

I would look up, and laugh, and love, and lift.”

Poem by Howard A. Walter 

Howard Arnold Walter (August 19, 1883 – November 1, 1918) 

was an American Congregationalist minister, author, and hymn writer.

Born in New Britain, Connecticut, on August 19, 1883,

 Howard Arnold Walter was the son of Henry S. Walter, 

Superintendent of the Stanley Rule & Level Company.

Walter graduated from Princeton University in 1905, and in 1906, 

he traveled to the Empire of Japan 

to teach English at Waseda University. 

There he wrote his mother a poem on his philosophy of life 

("My Creed" ), which became the hymn 

"I Would Be True" years after 

she submitted it to Harper's Magazine. 

Published in Harper's Magazine in 1909.

When Walter returned to the US, 

he studied at Hartford Seminary, 

was ordained a Congregationalist minister, 

and was an assistant minister 

in Asylum Hill, Connecticut, for three years.

Walter married Marguerite B. Darlington on November 21, 1910, 

in a Brooklyn, New York, 

service officiated by James Henry Darlington. 

On November 17, 1911, 

Marion D. Walter was born to the couple in Hartford, Connecticut. 

In 1913, the family traveled to Lahore in the British Raj 

to allow Walter to teach and proselyte the Mohammedans there. 

Two years later on April 7, 1914, 

Ruth A. Walter was born in Lahore.

Walter died of the Spanish flu in Lahore 

on November 1, 1918; 

he was buried there in the Indian Christian Cemetery, plot 211. 

His book 

The Religious Life of India: The Ahmadīya Movement 

was published posthumously.

The lyrics were used at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales.

 Rev. Walter became 

Secretary of the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) 

for India and Sri Lanka. 

Doctors had advised him not to go to India 

because of his weak heart, 

but he maintained that he “must be true.” 

Eulogizing words about his brief life included these: 

“His creed was a creed which all who knew him saw 

so bravely and so wondrously 

lived out in all his ways.”

Occupations:  Minister, Author, Hymn Writer
Notable Work:  "My Creed". ("I Would Be True)

Published:  "My Creed and Other Poems"

Copyright 1912

Gorham Press

"The gospel of Jesus Christ 

is the only true and valid basis for our lives.

 If we enter it into our system,

into “all [our] heart, might, mind and strength” (D&C 4:2),

we will know how to choose the right and to whom to listen."

 Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf

He that hath my commandments, 

and keepeth them, 

he it is that loveth me: 

and he that loveth me 

shall be loved of my Father, 

and I will love him, 

and will manifest myself to him.

John 14:21