Jimmy Scott Walker began planting pine trees on his family’s farm in Mississippi when he was young, which grew into a passion for conservation.
Ann Walker, of Grayson, said her husband made a career of it, working with the U.S. Forest Service after graduating from Mississippi State University with a degree in forestry. He had a particular interest in the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker.
“He talked about it a lot. He did a lot of research about it,” she said.
Developing an expertise in a subject was just part of Jimmy Walker’s personality. Whatever was on his radar he threw himself into full force. His wife said he would spend hours a day on his hobbies, which included hunting, fishing and gardening.
He had a tremendous arrowhead collection.
“He would spend half a day or a day looking for them,” Ann Walker said. “Anything he did, he did it like it was the highest-paying job he was ever going to have, but he loved it.”
Jimmy Scott Walker, 76, of Grayson, died Friday at Marietta’s Mission Personal Care Home from complications of Parkinson’s disease. A memorial service is planned Saturday at 1 p.m. at Snellville United Methodist Church, with his ashes to be interred in Mississippi later. Tom M. Wages Funeral Service, LLC is handling arrangements.
Later in life Jimmy Walker delved into genealogy, an interest passed down from his mother. Ann Walker said he spent more than a decade researching relatives, all the way back to before the Revolutionary War.
“We would drive to these remote places in northern Georgia, because a lot of his relatives were from North Georgia,” she said. “It was like a good mystery – he would go deeper and deeper.”
His passion for everything he did extended to Snellville United Methodist Church, where he attended more than 30 years. Theresa Clarke, the worship director, said Jimmy Walker was involved in every way he could be: He served on numerous committees, as Sunday school teacher, as an usher and as a trustee.
“He was one of those people that strived for excellence in what he did. He wanted it to be done right when he did it,” she said.
Clarke said he was always kind and personable, noting the warm smile he greeted her with every Sunday.
Along with his love for his church, and more than any of his other passions, Ann Walker said Jimmy Walker was first and foremost a compassionate family man who took care of everyone, including his ailing mother-in-law, a grieving sister and his own elderly mother.
In the last years of his life, he had a particular fascination with his two grandchildren, Jason and Ellie, who he cared for during the day starting when they were infants.
“That was a mutual thing,” his wife said. “They loved him, too. He considered himself as their caregiver.”
In addition to his wife of 53 years and his two grandchildren, Jimmy Walker is survived by sisters, Jane Csedrik of Germantown, Tenn., and Barbara Savage of Hernando, Miss.; and son, William “Billy” David of Grayson.
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