Stanley H. (Bud) Walker

WALKER AND PETTIT

Posted By: Gerhardt Leffler (email)
Date: 1/23/2008 at 08:42:21

*** IN LOVING MEMORY OF ***
Stanley H. (Bud) Walker, lifelong Marshalltown resident and business owner, died Friday, Jan. 18th, 2008, while under the care of Iowa River Hospice at Southridge Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Marshalltown after a six-month battle with cancer. He was 86.
Funeral services will be held at 10:00 AM Tuesday morning, January 22nd at First Baptist Church. Interment with Military Honors will follow at Riverside Cemetery. Public visitation will be held from 5:00–7:00 PM, Monday evening at Pursel-Davis Funeral Home & Crematory. Condolences to the family made be made at www.vogelfuneralhomes.com

Stanley Walker was born in Marshalltown on May 12, 1921, to Alonzo and Margaret (Pettit) Walker, sharing the house at 308 S. 6th Street with older sister Erma. The Walker family lost three infants to illness before Stan’s birth. He graduated from Marshalltown High School with the class of 1939. On Nov. 12th, 1944, he married his high school sweetheart Mary Elizabeth Welker, and they shared 54 beloved years together before Mary’s death in 1999.

Stan was well known as the co-owner/operator of Walker’s Garage, an independent towing and motor-repair retailer at 7 West Church Street. Stan’s father, Lon Walker, started Walker’s in 1924 on the alley at the rear of the McCombs Brothers Livery. Lon later purchased the entire three-story building, and Walker’s Garage occupied it until the sale of the business and building in 1974. Today a city parking lot is on the site. Walker’s Garage was known for 24-hour emergency towing service, and from World War II until the early 1960s, the building never closed as either Lon, Stan, his partner Glenn Forester, or Glenn’s wife Erma (Walker) occupied the building to answer calls from police or stranded motorists.

Stan served in the Iowa State Guard as a military policeman from January to July 1942 when he resigned to join the U.S. Army. Stan rose to the rank of Tech Sergeant during the Second World War, and was stationed at Fort Chaffee, Ark., and Fort Knox, Ky., training new recruits in hand-to-hand combat. He shipped out to France in February 1945 and helped reinforce Patton’s 3rd Army in its sweep across Europe. At war’s end, Stan was among the forces liberating Pilsen, Czechoslovakia. He was honorably discharged from the 10th Armored Infantry, 4th Armored Division in 1946 having earned the Combat Infantryman's Badge among numerous other decorations.

Stan was a past trustee of the Central Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and past president of the Noon Lions Club. He served on the Marshalltown Civil Service Commission for nearly two decades, and in recent years he volunteered his time to help Franklin Elementary School second-graders with their reading. Never failing to provide loving support to his family, there was nothing he enjoyed more than accompanying his young grandsons on trips to Riverside Cemetery to feed the ducks, geese and swans.

Stan will be greatly missed by his three sons, Lon (Donna) Walker of Marshalltown, Bruce (Ruth) Walker of Marshalltown, and Paul Walker of Wilton, Iowa; and three grandsons; Richard, Andrew, and Aaron.
Memorial Contributions in his honor may be made to Central Christian Church or Iowa River Hospice.

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