(Article as it appeared in Sedona Home and Garden Magazine - Fall 2000 - By Joey Best - Photography By Chris O’Meally) 

Don Walters may not yet be a common household name in Sedona  but his ancestors’ have been here for over 140 years.  Today, Don Walters is founder and president of Primary Systems, Inc., a highly reputable building company located in Flagstaff, Arizona that caters to affluent clients and commercial endeavors.  Today,  Walters prefers to live high up in the mountains. 

“I have chosen to live 15 miles outside of Flagstaff,?  Don Walters smiles.  “We have a small ranch and we border Forest Service on two sides so we have an unlimited amount of wilderness area.  Our neighbors are the elk and the deer.  I can get on my horse and ride for 30 miles without running into another person and I really enjoy that.  We like the peace and serenity of living outside of town.

Walters’ love of the wilderness and pioneering spirit comes from his genealogy.

“My family, both sides of my father’s family have been in what we called, “Oak Creek? since the 1860’s. We have one of the oldest heritages in the Verde Valley.  We have a lot of respect for the land because of our ancestry. I’ve grown up here. When I was young, both my parents worked and we had a Yavapai-Apache nanny.  So my younger brother and I learned Yavapai-Apache  as our first language.  I remember the songs our nanny always sang to us. The songs taught us about the natural things and how to respect nature and other Native American ways,?

Walters reminisced. “To this day, we try not to disrespect our ancestors and we have a high regard for the land. My buildings always reflect the strong Native American influence of my youth.?

“I have three guiding principles in my life.  The first is, a man’s only as good as his word.  Second is , I treat everybody a little bit better or a little bit worse than they treat me.  Thereby pushing people away that are bad and pulling the better people in.  The third is kind of three rules.  Is it going to matter a year from now?  Is it going to matter ten years from now?  And, is it going to matter a hundred years from now? I found that a lot of things hit the one year and the ten year rule, but there’s only two things that hit the hundred year rule.  The first thing is my family and that doesn’t mean just blood.  It’s whomever I bring into my family.  The second thing is my honor.  I guard those two things very carefully; my family and my honor. And I think that’s one of the reasons that we’ve been so successful; we look to those principles to guide us. We try to be honest, build faith, if we say something, we’re going to do it.?

“Our first consideration is that we want to build a home that works with the site, not make the site work with the home.  We did that with the Will residence,? Walters remarked.  “We were able to maximize the potential of the space and preserve the natural landscape and beauty of the area and I think that’s very important.?

Mark and Sue Will were very enthusiastic about Walters’ ability to maximize the natural scenery when building their home,  “We tried to capture views from every room in the house,? Sue explained.  “ That’s the reason why we have as many windows as we do.   Walters found the highest elevation on the lot and we put the house there. So everywhere you’re surrounded by Boynton Canyon. Actually, what we did was bring the outside in and take the inside out.  You’ll see where we brought stones in and took metals outside and tried to make it as earthy as we could. Keeping within the natural environment.?   Even the wood beams  are specially placed to go outside  and represent the Four Corners of the Native American World.?  

“Don Walters builds with real quality,?  Sue Will remarked.  “We met Stephen Thompson through Don Walters and things just progressed from there.  I think the big thing on this house was to watch the talent that is here in Sedona and I think there’s people that don’t even know that some of this talent exists here.  Walters’ subcontractors were excellent.  Mark and I told them what our personalities were and we let them go.  We learned that if you let skilled craftsmen alone and allow them to be creative, you’ll end up with something that nobody else has. It will be a piece of art because we allowed them to create it. 

 The French Faux painter, John Pierre Chesnel used ideas he had seen in France and other foreign countries and he said to me,  “I don’t even know why I am charging you because you have no idea how much fun this is.? And Kay Frizzle, the stained glass artist, loves to see the expression on my face as she installs a new piece of her artwork. Dick and Mary from Home Elements are wonderful, too.   They helped me so many times.  They came up with a lot of good ideas. Everybody asks me, “ Where did you get those ceiling fans? They’re so different looking,?  and I say, “Home Elements.?  It’s so simple.  It is here in Sedona and everybody’s driving to Phoenix.  Lou Burgueno for instance, his granite work in the kitchen and everything he’s done throughout the house is an outstanding work of art. I discovered that he is more than a granite man. He is definitely an artist. Everyone who sees my house now wants Lou to be a part of their team.  Lou would bring pieces in when we were out of town just to surprise us.

Where else would you get such enthusiasm and creativity??

“Choosing Primary Systems to build our house was a blessing,?  Sue Will remarked happily.  “Everyone works together like a big family. Now that I know Don Walters, Stephen Thompson and all their wonderful sub contractors, I can’t imagine why anyone would want to go to Phoenix. They’re all part of our family. Sedona is truly a community of artists. People’s perception of an artist is somebody that does a sculpture or  paints a picture, but there is another type of art in this town,  it’s the art of premier builders like Don Walters and his subcontractors, his “family?, Sue Will said. “If you have a dream and a vision, you can accomplish anything with Don Walters.

460 N. Switzer Canyon Drive, Suite 100 - Flagstaff, Arizona 86001

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