FREMONT — Richard B. “Dick” Walters, who installed and repaired boilers in schools, factories, and big downtown buildings across the region and whose antique trucks appeared in the 1990s movies The Shawshank Redemption and Hoffa, died Friday at his cottage at Beulah Beach near Vermilion, Ohio.

He was 83 and his death was unexpected, although he had been in declining health for about five years, said his son, Timothy, who did not know the exact cause of death.

Mr. Walters was president, owner, and operator of Fremont Boiler Works Inc. from the mid-1970s when his father, Henry, died, until about 20 years ago, when his son Eric took over leadership. The business in those years was based on Hayes Avenue in Fremont, but has since moved to East State Street under the leadership of his son Timothy after Eric’s death in 2012.

Under Richard Walters, the business repaired and installed boilers across northern Ohio, with occasional jobs as far away as Fort Wayne, Ind., and Columbus. The boilers that he worked on were typically huge — often the size of a residential garage — and usually ranged in price from $50,000 to $150,000. Fremont Boiler Works competed with shops in Toledo and Cleveland but got most of its jobs by word of mouth, Timothy Walters said.

The shop usually had about 11 employees, including Richard Walters’ wife, Ruth, who ran the office. The couple had met as teenagers at a church youth function in Toledo and married Oct. 15, 1955.

The business was purchased in the 1950s by Henry Walters, who had been a self-employed smokestack erector. Most of the shop’s customers were schools and factories, but Richard Walters, who was a certified welder, also worked in many hospitals and government buildings.

He started collecting antique trucks — he considered them much harder to find in good condition than old cars — as a young man. One early purchase was in the 1950s when he paid $25 for an old truck that broke down in Fremont.

“He loved trucks since he was just real little,” his wife said. “He loved his toys that were trucks.”

Had he not worked for his father, his wife, said he likely would have been a truck driver.

Most of his vintage collection, which numbered more than 30 at one point and was stored in a pole barn, were Chevrolets, ranging from pickups to one-ton trucks. Among his favorites were a cherry red, snub nose truck from about 1950 and a four-door car from the early 1930s.

“I think it was the nostalgia,” his son said. His father often did his own mechanical work on the collection, but usually hired restoration body work done. In the 1950s, Mr. Walters spent many Saturday nights at the Fremont race track with his welder, repairing stock cars on race nights.

He was a regional charter member of the Ohio Vintage Chevrolet Club of America and the Black Swamp American Truck Historical Society. Through those clubs, he was asked to provide four or five trucks from the 1930s for the Hoffa movie, which was shot in part in Detroit, and a mid-1930s truck for The Shawshank Redemption, which was shot in part in Mansfield.

Mr. Walters, his son Timothy, and eight or 10 members of the truck club were extras in the Hoffa movie, which had some of Mr. Walters’ vehicles repainted and outfitted with new canvas — and then sprayed to make them look dirty for a scene. The club members were so thoroughly outfitted in period clothing that Mrs. Walters said she hardly recognized them when they emerged from the costuming trailer.

“It was very exciting,” she said of watching her husband and son with movie stars Jack Nicholson and Danny DeVito.

Mr. Walters was born Oct. 18, 1932, in Gibsonburg, Ohio, to Henry and Carrie Walters. He was a corporal in the U.S. Army, stationed in Whittier, Alaska, as a quartermaster from 1953 until 1955. He lived in Fremont most of his life, moving about eight years ago to the vacation cottage in a Christian & Missionary Alliance community on Lake Erie that he and his wife had for decades.

Surviving are his wife, Ruth; son, Timothy; daughter, Beth Walters; sisters, Rhea Myers and Shirley Munson; five grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

Visitation is 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. today in Keller-Koch-Chudzinski Funeral Home, Fremont, and from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Tuesday in Fremont Alliance Church, where the funeral will be at 10:30 a.m. He was a charter member of the church.

The family suggests tributes to Beulah Beach Corp., Gideons International, or the church.

Contact Jane Schmucker at: jschmucker@theblade.com or 419-724-6050.

First Published April 25, 2016, 4:00 a.m.