Walter Roger Walker, 83, passed away quietly at his home surrounded by his family August 7, 2004. He was preceded in death by his parents, his three brothers Ferrell, Bill, and Monte, and his sister Winifred. He was born January 26, 1921 in Sutherland to Winslow Roper and Josephine Bunker Walker. He grew up in Sutherland working on his father's farm, attended Delta High School, and two years at the Utah Agricultural College. In high school he was an all-state guard on the 1938 Delta High School championship football team. He enjoyed baseball and boxing; later becoming a middleweight champ at St. Mary's Pre-flight. He enlisted in the US Navy in 1942 and while awaiting a pilot training slot, he worked at Hill Air Force Base designing and testing diagnostic equipment for aircraft instruments. While there he met his sweetheart, Erma Reeder. They were married at Kanosh. Utah, June 20, 1944 and spent 60 years together. Their marriage was later solemnized in the Manti Temple During the Battle of Leyte Gulf June 23rd 1945, he earned the Silver Star for a solo and successful torpedo attack on a heavy Japanese cruiser. When he left the Navy he began his lifelong joy by buying farms in the Sutherland Abraham area. At the end of a canal at the end of a river, he soon realized a fair stream of irrigation water meant being involved and began a long tenure as board member and President of the Abraham Irrigation Company and then Commissioner of the Sevier River. After retiring as Sevier River Commissioner in 1989, he was appointed to serve on the Central Utah Water Conservancy District Board until 1994. It was during his years working for the irrigation interests in the Lower Sevier that he pioneered improved flow measurement methods, buried plastic canal linings, laser land leveling, and the present day computerized water right allocation system for the Sevier River. He is survived by his wife Erma; five children, Wynn (Lorraine) Walker, Logan; Cheryl (Alan) Edwards, Salt Lake City; James (Laura) Walker, Sutherland; David Walker, Sutherland; and Wendy (Bill) Lowry, Park City; sixteen grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren; brothers: Gene and John Walker; sister: Marylyn Church. Funeral services held August 12, 2004 at the Sutherland 2nd Ward. Interment will be in the Sutherland Cemetery.
Published in the Salt Lake Tribune on 8/10/2004.