Jack Walker

Jack Walker left this earth on Friday, March 8. He was 85 years old.

He was born on May 8, 1938, the third son of Mildred Aline Downey and Frank Elery Walker, in Graham. He was the youngest of three boys: Bobby Carol, Billy Mack and Jackie Gene. As the youngest and with a full head of blond curls, he might have been a little spoiled.

He attended Graham schools, playing basketball and getting into mischief. He earned a basketball scholarship to Cisco Junior College, where he ate a lot of spam and rice. He graduated hating rice but loving spam (alas). He was then offered another basketball scholarship to Austin College in Sherman, where he graduated with a degree in business.

He met his first wife, Nancy Belinda “Binny” Coe at Austin College, and they married over Christmas of their senior year. They soon embarked on raising a family of three girls. He supported them by working in the oil fields of west and north central Texas.

In 1969, the family left west Texas and moved to Jack’s hometown of Graham. They bought a turn-of-the-century house and he used his considerable handyman skills to update and remake the house to fit the needs of his family. With the exception of a short stint back to west Texas, Jack spent the rest of his working life and much of his retirement in Graham.

He became a widower raising three girls in 1979 when Binny died. He rose to the challenge, which must have been quite daunting. In the years after this, the family discovered camping, and embarked on summer trips to Colorado with his brother Bobby, sister-in-law Donna and their three daughters. He loved fishing, hiking and four-wheeling near Lake City, Colorado, and the girls saw a different side of their fathers, when the brothers clowned around as brothers do.

He married Martha Bishop on Aug. 18, 1982, creating a new blended family with her two children. Martha and Jack enjoyed many years together in Graham, buying and settling into a new house and spending time with family and friends. They were members of the First United Methodist Church and the Circuit Riders Sunday School class.

Jack retired in 1994 after 35 years with Dowell-Schlumberger, but continued working part time for a few years afterwards. He thought this was the ideal work situation!

Throughout his life he took great pride in keeping a nicely landscaped yard. He grew a vegetable garden yearly with his favorite home-grown tomatoes. He enjoyed watching all sorts of sports, but especially baseball. His teams were the Boston Red Sox, the Dallas Cowboys, and the Boston Celtics. He kept up with handyman and car mechanic duties throughout his life. He loved reading, and likely read every Louis L’Amour book ever written. He loved his pickup, and made sure it was spotless at all times. Jack had a major sweet tooth (for which his daughters were thankful) and loved the color orange.

In retirement, he visited his daughters, taking on handyman chores at their homes. His love language was acts of service – not that he would ever have said that.

He spent his final years at Orchard Park in Kyle, Texas, where the staff took excellent care of him and bestowed the nickname “Jack-Jack.” They and his family loved his smile and mischievous nature, which he kept until the end.

Jack is survived by his wife, Martha; daughter Cynthia and husband Dan Pickens; daughter Carrie and husband Francisco Reyes; daughter Emily and husband Michael Good; seven grandchildren (Walker, Connor and Hannah Pickens; Tyler and Amber Gray; Kayla and Justin Good); stepson Terry Bishop and wife Cynthia; and stepdaughter Kim Bishop.

Graveside service will be at 2 p.m., March 16, at Pioneer Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to your favorite charity or to the National Wildlife Foundation.