Richard Walker

Richard Walker, Jr. November 17, 1924 — December 3, 2012 Rev. Richard Walker Jr., 88, passed away on Dec. 3, 2012. He is native of Birmingham, Alabama, and son of the late Carrie Pearl Sullivan Walker and Richard Walker, Sr. Rev. Walker attended Miles College before being drafted into the Army to serve in World War II. Following the war, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in education from Tuskegee Institute and taught school in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, before returning to Birmingham. He married Christine Karol Norwood and worked as a teacher, a salesman, and a supervisor with Atlanta Life Insurance. After answering God’s call to ministry, he attended the Interdenominational Theological Center and earned a Master of Divinity degree. He subsequently worked as a United Methodist minister in Montgomery, Birmingham and Mobile, Alabama, serving as administrator, teacher, counselor and preacher. He also was appointed to several conference-level positions, including Secretary and Director of Education for the Central Alabama Conference and Director of the Alabama-West Florida Conference Pastors’ School, before retiring in 1993. In 2010, he moved to El Paso, where he remained until his death. He was preceded in death by his sister, Lessie, and wife, Christine; and survived by his son, Rev. Richard Walker III; daughter, Karol Parker: grandchildren, Julia Christine Walker and Richard Parker; niece, Alice Jean Crowder; other relatives and friends. The family wishes to thank the extended church family who watched over him in Mobile, Alabama, as well as Alfredo and Maria Austin and the staff of Choice Hospice for their care and kindness in his final days. Funeral Service will be held at 2:30 pm, Sunday, Dec. 9, at Sunset Funeral Home Northeast. Interment at 1 pm, Monday, Dec. 10, at Fort Bliss National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Black College Fund, General Board of Higher Education and Ministry, The United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 340007, Nashville, TN 37203. Services entrusted to Sunset Funeral Home Northeast. Please visit on-line register book at www.sunsetfuneralhomes.net