Like so many of us, she was from somewhere else, trying to make a go of it here. Until Thursday, few knew her name.
Now, Gayla Joyce Walker’s name is linked with mystery, tragedy. She was the woman hit and killed on Interstate 285 Thursday morning. Her death, and the monstrous traffic tie-ups that followed as police investigated, were the talk of Atlanta.
But who was she? That story is still unfolding. We know this much:
She was raised in El Paso, Texas, one of 10 children. She was 53 — businesswoman, student, mother. She came to Atlanta, left, but returned.
Now, said one of her sisters, she’s joined a deceased brother in the hereafter. “She’s with him now,” said Houston resident Phyllis Wilson, Walker’s older sister. “He’s asking her, ‘Why are you here now?’”
That’s a question the rest of the family’s also asking, Wilson said. “What was she doing out there on that highway?”
Computerized records show Walker filed for bankruptcy in Texas in 2004. She owned an El Paso design firm, La Vida Hermosa. The name, translated from Spanish: “Life Is Beautiful.” A Texas lawyer, since retired, handled the 11-year-old bankruptcy case; he didn’t recall her.
Walker’s name appears five years later, this time in Georgia. In 2009, she resurrected her old firm’s name and gave it a Lawrenceville address. A web site explains her company’s mission:
“Our portfolio range includes spaces designed for writers to create, rooms centered around art collections, theme and ethnic inspired rooms, garage conversions, sleek, yet functional and inviting kitchens, and relaxing bath environments.”
Walker had another reason to come to Georgia, said the sister. “That’s where her children were.” A daughter and son called the metro area home.
By 2010, she was a student at Gwinnett Technical College’s interiors program. She excelled at her studies in interior design, said Walker’s teacher and adviser, Susan Arnold.
“She was a superior student,” said Arnold, who directs the program. “She was very loved and respected here.”
So respected that Walker became president of the program’s design club — so loved, said Arnold, that the two women often ate lunch together, even after Walker finished the curriculum in 2012. Some days, they went shopping.
But Walker’s hardships weren’t over. In 2012, she again filed for bankruptcy. A Duluth lawyer who handled her case said he didn’t remember her, or the case.
Still, her business remained open. Today, La Vida Hermosa is represented by a small postbox at a Dunwoody UPS Store. The company, said her sister, had struggled.
Last year, Walker moved back to Texas, but came back in November — after all, her children were here. She lived in an apartment complex just off Ashford-Dunwoody Road. It’s a stately place, brick, ringed by hardwoods.
Thursday, said Wilson, she got a call from Atlanta. It was her niece. Her mother — Wilson’s sister — was dead. And no one knew why.
“We don’t know why this happened,” she said.
Walker’s teacher is just as mystified. “She used to call me sometimes and say, ‘How’s my wonderful mentor?’” Arnold said. “She was in such a good place in her life.
“I really don’t understand it.”
Sandy Springs police said Thursday night they were looking for a white pickup truck that may have been involved in Thursday’s accident. They had no license number or make but said the truck may have a camper shell on its bed.
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