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WALKER, RAYMOND JAMES “RED”

contributed by Bessie Meredith

BORN: MARCH 2, 1922
DIED: MARCH 23, 2004

Raymond James “Red” Walker, a former longtime resident of Snyder, died Tuesday, March 23, 2004, after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s.

Graveside service for Mr. Walker, 82, is set for 1 p.m. Saturday in Hillside Memorial Gardens.

Born March 2, 1922 in Ft. Towson, Okla., his father died during the Depression and Red, at age 18, joined the CCC to help support the family.

He then enlisted in the U.S. Army in El Paso where he served in the last mounted Cavalry at Fort Bliss. There he met Sue Bentley and they were married on Nov. 30, 1941. She died Feb. 19, 2004.

Then came Pearl Harbor and he enlisted in the U.S. Navy. He served on the Destroyer Doyle in both the Pacific and Atlantic. It made 16 crossings, including the D-Day landing at Normandy.

After being discharged from the military in 1945, he went to work for Texaco and moved from town to town in West Texas.

Mr. Walker was transferred to Snyder in 1954 as a surveyor in the production and drilling department. He retired in 1984 after 38 years. The couple remained in Snyder until 2000.

In 1960, Mr. Walker drew a map of Snyder and adjacent property with the assistance of Willie T. Morrow, city draftsman.

His love of surveying and mapmaking also resulted in The Historic Map of Scurry County on display in the Scurry County Museum on the Western Texas College campus. He also authored several historical markers in the city and served on the Scurry County Library board.

He also completed a book, “A Mound and Four Pits,” about early surveying in Texas and he was working on a book about the significance of water and mineral rights.

Mr. Walker was a member of Colonial Hill Baptist Church where he was a Sunday school teacher.

Survivors include a son and daughter-in-law, James and Lynn Walker of Virginia; two daughters and sons-in-law, Molly and Michael Droge and Amber and Eric Delvin, all of Dallas; two grandsons, Matthew and Owen Walker of Virginia; two step-grandsons, Matthew and Michale Delvin of New York; a brother, Herbert Hendricks of Van Alytne; and numerous nieces and nephews.

The family suggests memorials to the Alzheimer’s Association, 225 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1700 in Chicago, 60601.