If you seek Pat Walker's monument, just look around--in Springdale and parts of Arkansas far beyond. She came out of Boise, Idaho, of all places, and was reared in Tulsa, Okla. In the peripatetic American tradition, she and her mother would move on to Coffeyville, Kan., before she would meet and marry her husband Willard, who caught Sam Walton's eye.
Mister Sam would choose Willard Walker to manage Walton's Five and Dime in Fayetteville, and the rest is marketing history. Willard Walker would go on to become a major stockholder in Wal-Mart, the discount giant that changed the face of American business. The Walkers would be married almost 61 years before Willard died at the age of 81 in February 2003. By that time the couple that had been given so much had given even more to Arkansas. And theirs is a gift that will surely go on giving.
Among the causes that now bear Pat Walker's are the Pat Walker Health Center at the University of Arkansas, the Pat Walker Teacher Education Program at the University of the Ozarks and the Walker Foundation. Not to mention so many others. Like the Pat Walker Center for Seniors at Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville and the Pat Walker Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Arkansas Children's Hospital.
"She was just so kind and gracious," to quote a fund-raiser who spent some 20 years in health care. His tribute was echoed from everybody who came in contact with Pat Walker and her generous ways, whether in the public schools or through a myriad of other good causes from public education to public health.
"They always said to me when we were talking about school initiatives, 'we just want to help.' " That's a quote from Jim Rollins, the school superintendent of Springdale's public school district. And help they did, time and again. "They are the greatest example of givers one might imagine," he added. And there's always a lot to add when it comes to Pat Walker and her husband. Both left a legacy that will continue long after their lifetimes. For which Springdale, Fayetteville, and rest of Arkansas will be grateful to have had such folks among us.
Editorial on 09/07/2016