Walker Bolton Wilkerson's Obituary
Walker Bolton Wilkerson, 89, died on July 25 from complications from pneumonia after a long battle with cancer.Walker was born in Memphis in 1929, the only child of Walker Wilkerson and Evelyn Bolton Wilkerson. He graduated from Whitehaven High School in 1947, then attended Memphis State University, where he majored in chemical engineering and was a member of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity.After graduating in 1951, he served in Korea with the Army Chemical Corps. In 1954, he married Barbara Trotter, of Sardis, MS.He worked for the Velsicol Chemical Corporation, before joining Bryce Corporation in 1971 as Vice President, in charge of manufacturing.After the passing of his first wife, in 1971, he married Dorothy Link, of Memphis.By the time Walker retired from Bryce Corporation in 1982, the company boasted more than 1,000 employees, and three manufacturing plants. Walker went on to pursue other businesses, including owning a Memphis franchise of The Great Indoors, a solarium and greenhouse company. He then owned and managed a recycling concern in Bayou LaBatre, Alabama.Throughout his life, and especially during his retirement, Walker traveled extensively with his wife and family, including trips through Europe, the Caribbean, the American West, Canada, Alaska, and Egypt. As all his friends knew well, he was a great dog-lover (and hater of chicken!) and a fiercely competitive bridge champion, having been a member of several bridge clubs. He took pride in his landscaping, gardening, home improvement projects, cooking and grilling, and was for many years a devout University of Memphis Tiger basketball fan. For the last decade of his life, Walker and his wife lived half the year in Memphis, and half the year in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.Walker was a devoted husband and father, loyal, steady, and true. His loved ones will miss his many wonderful qualities—including his can-do optimism, his practical-mindedness, his organizational prowess, his spirited storytelling, and his wry sense of humor.He is survived by his wife of forty-five years, Dorothy Link Wilkerson, of Memphis, TN, and Lexington, VA; his daughter, Dr. Lynn Wilkerson Gayden, of Memphis; his grandson, Walker Bolton Gayden, of Memphis; his son-in-law, Dr. Jack Gayden, of Memphis; his stepson, Hampton Sides, of Santa Fe, NM; and three step-grandsons.The family kindly asks for any donations to be sent in his name to the Memphis Union Mission (http://www.memphisunionmission.org).
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