David Walker passed away at the New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, NC. David had been living with the debilitating effects of congestive heart failure for a number of years now. After several recent episodes and a final valiant struggle, David's condition was so grave that the family made the decision to let him pass away peacefully.

David was raised on his family's tobacco farm located on Beatty's Bridge Road in the eastern North Carolina town of Atkinson. He was preceded in death by his parents John D Walker and Verna Rose Rogers Walker, his wife Kathleen Linda Welsh Walker, his sisters Barbara Dale Walker Duckworth and Helen Elizabeth Walker Woodcock. David is survived by his brother John Dallas (wife Linda) Walker, his sister Tammy Rose Walker Hickman and his son Jeffery David Walker along with numerous nieces and nephews.
David attended the one school in Atkinson, which embodied grades 1 thru 12 where he completed the 12thgrade and graduated from Atkinson High School in May 20th, 1967.

While growing up in the agricultural south, David would often work alongside side his sisters, brothers and others his father hired to help with the planting, suckering, care, harvest and curing of the family's tobacco crop. In addition to farming, David's father also operated the Walker's Service Station and Automotive Parts in the town of Atkinson where he and his brother Dallas both worked on and off from 1962 thru 1983.

After high school, David moved to Jacksonville, Florida and attended the College there. In 1970, he transferred his field of study to psychology and moved to Schenectady, NY. While attending Schenectady Community College, he volunteered to assist his older sister Barbara and her husband in a New York State sponsored social services program, Families for the Future. The program placed at risk teenage girls and boys in safe extended foster families. The family maintained a 17 room colonial home on Union Street in Schenectady, NY and regularly took in foster children that were sponsored by New York State Social Services or who were placed by local judges for their continued care and support through high school. In addition to his own studies, David worked in maintaining the home and as a support person for his sister and brother in-law during the routine and crisis times with the teenagers placed in their care. Sometimes he provided rides to school or to appointments with their counselors. David's easy going temperament and willingness to listen was a valuable asset during difficult times of adjustment for some of the charges living at the home. David was an important part of the family group dynamic during the several years he was there.

While winters in Schenectady were often filled with shoveling snow and ice, making snow forts and snowball fights, David was introduced to sledding and ice skating on Central Park Lake with hot chocolate to warm the toes at the Hutt afterward. On summer weekends the entire group would go sailing on the waters and enjoy the beaches of Lake Saratoga and the winds of the Sacandaga Lake. David enjoyed fishing, sailing, camping, picnicking, visits to the New York State museums and hiking the trails in the Northeast from Indian Ladder State Park in the Catskills to the Adirondacks.

While in Schenectady, David met and fell in love with Ms. Kathleen Linda Welsh. They moved back to Atkinson, where he and Kathleen were married on October 4, 1975 at the Atkinson Baptist Church. In 1985 David and Kathleen moved to the City of Charleston, SC and lived in the community of John's Island. There he served as an EMT for the Life Flight Services of the Medical University of South Carolina. He often remarked that one of his most favorite times were the Christmas Holidays, because of the Walker tradition of homecoming with everyone getting together for sharing and reunion with his parents, brother and sisters, in-laws, nephews and nieces. After Kathleen's untimely death, David moved back to the Walker home on Beatty's Bridge.

David was an avid reader, with a vivid imagination and a relish for a good debate. Because of his high reading speed and comprehension skill, he could hold his own during discussions about local NC history, the revolutionary and civil wars, and politics. Over the years, David developed a love for reading science fiction and fantasy novels. He loved how these books could take him to other worlds where the only limits were the creativity of the author. In his final years he would read approximately 300 pages a day as this activity was not limited by his illness.

David's compassion and courage for his fellow man and devotion to the betterment of the society in which he has lived for 68 years is exemplified by his wish to donate his body to science. His donation request was accepted by the Forensic Anthropology Research Center in Knoxville, Tenn. David's contribution to the study of the human decomposition process is nothing short of exemplary as this center's research is a leader in advancing the knowledge and skill of law enforcement and medical examiners throughout the United States and abroad.

David will be missed by his family, friends and associates for the love, courage and patience he brought to everything he did and to everyone who had the privilege to know him. Because of his love of reading and knowledge, David's wish is that in lieu of flowers, donations in his name should be given to the Atkinson Town Library.

His son Jeffery David Walker and family will carry on with sorrow for his loss and with great joy in their hearts for the love they shared with David during his time on earth.

The memorial for David will be held 2:00 PM Saturday, July 15, 2017 at St Mary United Holy International Church, 8730 Point Caswell Rd, Atkinson, NC 28421.