It’s Alice’s Game, But Museum Has OK of Waltons

By Rich Polikoff

Posted: November 5, 2011 at noon

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BENTONVILLE — In a rare interview with The New York Times published in June, Alice Walton told the newspaper that before she could launch Crystal Bridges of American Art, she needed the backing of her nieces and nephews.

Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., and his wife Helen had four children: Rob, John, Jim and Alice Walton. John died in a plane crash in 2005.

All three second-generation Walton children are in their sixties. They have a combined eight children — Jim has four, Rob has three and John had one — while Alice Walton has no children.

The Walton family is known to have meetings during the year, sometimes held in Northwest Arkansas and other times held in other locations. During these meetings, members present to the rest of the family projects that are of interest to them personally, according to Ed Clifford, the director of the Bentonville/Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce. The exact involvement of Alice Walton’s eight nieces and nephews is not publicly known.

But Walton herself said in an Oct. 24 interview that her family members had to be on board when she went forward with plans for the museum. The museum’s property is on Walton family land that would have otherwise been used for homes for her nieces and nephews.

Clifford said he has not seen evidence of the third-generation Waltons’ involvement with the concept or ongoing progress of the museum itself.

“Not in the museum project,” he said. “More in other projects that are going on. ... There’s no question [Alice Walton leads the museum project]. It’s her ballgame.”

Clifford said third-generation members have been involved with the expansive trail system on the Crystal Bridges campus, which includes one mile of bicycle trails. One of those third-generation members could be Tom Walton, the son of Jim and Lynne Walton, who is an avid bicyclist and was instrumental in the building of Bentonville’s 15 miles of dedicated bicycle trails. Financing for the building of those trails came, in large part, from grants to the Bentonville/Bella Vista Trailblazers Association Inc. from the Walton Family Foundation, the family’s foundation.

“Tom Walton is very involved with the trail projects, always has been,” Clifford said. “He was the driving force for the [Bentonville bicycle] trail system.”

Tom Walton’s involvement with the Bentonville bicycle trails is a rare instance where a third-generation Walton was linked to a public-works project. Individual family members rarely seek attention for their work in projects. (Scott Eccleston, the museum’s director of trails and grounds, said he was unaware of Tom Walton’s involvement in the bike trails.)

Clifford, who describes the family as “a driving force” for the improvement of Bentonville, declined to give specific details on the involvement of the third-generation Waltons, citing a confidentiality agreement he had signed. The agreement is common, he said, for individuals and organizations who are involved in philanthropic projects with the Waltons and the Walton Family Foundation.

The Walton Family Foundation donated more than $1.2 billion in 2010 to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. The foundation’s communications director, Daphne Moore, said family members have “a significant interest” in the museum, but said any further questions would have to be answered by family members.

Repeated attempts to contact members of the Walton family were unsuccessful.

“Most of the projects they want to be involved with, they don’t want to be recognized,” Clifford said. “But it is significant. ... They have done a significant amount in Northwest Arkansas. You can’t talk about what they’ve done in Bentonville without it being surgically involved in all of Northwest Arkansas. It’s a huge deal.”

The Walton Family Foundation has made sizable donations to Northwest Arkansas in the past. It donated a record $300 million to the University of Arkansas in 2002.

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