Inducted 1999

Born in Barren County, Kentucky on May 18, 1886, William B. Walbert became one of the pioneers of Southern gospel through his work with the James D. Vaughan Music Company. 

After attending the Vaughan School in January 1912, he began full-time work as a company representative and, in December 1915, married Mable Grace Vaughan, James Vaughan's only daughter. 

Along with Vaughan's son, Kieffer, Walbert became a key individual in the company's continued success over the next half century. He served as band director and staff artist for WOAN, the Vaughan-owned radio station in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee and, beginning in 1923, managed the Vaughan Radio Quartet, one of the most successful Southern Gospel groups of the era. In the early 1930s, Walbert also served as editor of the Vaughan Family visitor and, after James Vaughan's death in 1941, took charge of the Vaughan School of Music. 

He composed more than a hundred gospel songs in his career, among them "Oh What a blessing he Is to Me," "Peace Like a river," and "Tell it Everywhere You Go."