WALK, Earl C. 1917-1999

WALK

Posted By: Jeannine Peterson (email)
Date: 4/3/2012 at 16:29:06

Earl Carl Walk, 81, of rural Kensett, died on Wednesday, March 24, 1999, at the Lutheran Retirement Home, Northwood.

Funeral services were held Saturday, at the Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Grafton, with the Rev. Ernest Thompson and the Rev. Allan Stoa officiating. Burial was in the Grafton Cemetery, with military honors conducted by the American Legion Post No. 616, of Grafton.

Earl Carl Walk was born on August 2, 1917, in Barton Township, Worth County, near Grafton, the son of Edwin and Jennie (Rademaker) Walk. He attended school in rural Grafton Union No. 3. He was baptized in the Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Grafton, on September 9, 1917. Earl was confirmed on April 9, 1933, at the same church. He remained a lifelong member of Emmanuel Lutheran.

Earl worked as a farmhand for area farmers until he was inducted into the U.S. Army on December 2, 1941, at Des Moines. He took basic training at Esseler Field and Sheppard Field Air Force Base, TX. He was stationed at Duxford England Air Base for three years with the U.S. 8th Army Air Force 78 fighter group. Earl was a staff sergeant and a crew chief for the ground crew mechanics repairing and maintaining P-51s and P-47 fighter planes. Earl met a family at church in Grimsby, England, and spent his time off at their home. They visited his home twice and Earl visited them in England once. Earl was honorably discharged in October 1945.

In 1946, Earl and his brother, Cecil, who was also honorably discharged from the U.S. Army, farmed one mile north of Grafton. After 1970, he farmed and resided with his brother Dellis Walk, until 1994, when he became a resident of the Lutheran Retirement Home in Northwood.

Earl loved his farm and farming, and was proud of his work and his crops. He loved to fish.

He was an usher at Emmanuel Lutheran for over 50 years and was usher for the first service in the new church in 1936. He served on the church board and elevator board. He was a member of the American Legion Post No. 616 of Grafton for over 50 years.

He was preceded in death by his parents; brothers, Cecil and Eugene; sister, Lucille Miller; sisters-in-law, Judeth Walk and Mary Walk; niece, Lennette Hinrichson.

Earl is survived by brothers, Dellis, Kensett, and Everett (Beverly) Walk, Mason City; nieces, Deborah Hendrickson, Mason City, Valerie Midthun, Minneapolis, MN, Alison Walk, Brooklyn Center, MN, Linda Sash, Albert Lea, MN, and Mary Gustin, Clear Lake; nephews, Steven Miller, Clear Lake, Thomas Walk, CA, and Jeffery Walk, Clear Lake; aunts, Anna Schultz, Northwood, and Dorothy Rademaker, Manly.

Mason City Globe Gazette March 1999