Robert "Tuffy" Walker 1924-2003

WALKER, HIME, THOGERSEN

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 10/5/2008 at 01:03:09

Sioux City Journal
Saturday, January 25, 2003

BLENCOE, Iowa -- Robert "Tuffy" Walker, 78, of Blencoe passed away Friday, Jan. 24, 2003, at Burgess Health Center in Onawa, Iowa.

Services will be 10:30 a.m. Monday at Blencoe United Church of Christ, with the Rev. John Noer officiating. Burial will be in Graceland Cemetery, Blencoe, with military rites conducted by the U.S. Marine Corps. Visitation will be 4 to 8 p.m. Sunday, with a prayer service at 7 p.m., at Rush Family Care Service in Onawa.

Robert was born Jan. 28, 1924, on the family farm near Blencoe, the son of Isaac and Ruth (Hime) Walker. He was raised in Blencoe and graduated from Blencoe High School in 1942. He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps on April 11, 1944, and served during World War II as an armored amphibian crewman. He was stationed in the Asiatic Pacific area from Dec. 27, 1944, until June 5, 1946, where he participated in action against the enemy at Okinawa and Ryukyu Island. He received an honorable discharge on June 19, 1946.
He married Vera Thogersen on March 30, 1947, in Blencoe. He was a lifelong farmer and loved mechanics.

He was a member of Blencoe United Church of Christ, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2694 of Monona County and American Legion Stevens Kelley Post 665 of Blencoe. He pitched on the Blencoe softball team.

Survivors include his wife; two daughters, Cheryl Green and her friend, Rick of Waterford, Conn., and Charlene Walker and her fiance, David Deen of Onawa; four sons, Ronald and his friend, Sharon of Smith River, Calif., Bradly of Blencoe, Kevin and his wife, Sandy of Defiance, Iowa, and Mark of Blencoe; 11 grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren; a brother and his wife, Gordon and Mabel Walker of Onawa; and a sister and her husband, Mary and Milo Stanislav of Little Sioux, Iowa.

He was preceded in death by his parents; a son, Clinton; and a brother, George.