Home > Living a Better LIFE > Archives > 2009 > October > 01 > Entry
A gentleman I sorely miss
I miss Boice Walker. For those of you who never enjoyed the opportunity to meet him, I’d like to take a moment to introduce him.
Mr. Walker — I always felt a gentlemen such as him should be called “mister” — was not one of Rocky Mount’s elite. He was not, at least to my knowledge, wealthy. People did not seek him out for connections or favors with government at any level. In fact, if you passed him in the store or set beside him in a restaurant, you probably would not have looked twice at him.
What Mr. Walker did that makes him worthy of remembering was his love of the city in general and its history in particular. I suspect that there are many people who can tell you about what happened “back then.” So could Mr. Walker, but the difference is that he worked to document it.
Two things he did that stood out. The first was writing a book of reminiscences, “A Rainbow in the West.” I still remember when he came into my office to give me a signed copy. He was pleased, you could tell, to have finished the project and to be able to give me a copy as a gift. There were several signings held at different places in the city. I think he relished each but not because of the acclaim he drew from them or any money he may have made through the book’s sale. No, they were chances to share some of the good stories about the way that the city used to be.
Second, Mr. Walker was a faithful collector and conservator of local photos. I know many of these made their way to Braswell Memorial Library. Mr. Walker knew that the good people there would ensure that these bits of our history would be safeguarded and shared. A few of the photos also made their way to my desk as contributions to the Back Then feature that runs in each Sunday’s edition. Mr. Walker easily could recall the story that created the scene in most of the photos. He also watched over this editor’s stewardship of them, calling every so often to make sure that they still were in the rotation for future editions and periodically reclaiming the published photos so they could be passed on to the library.
All through this, I never saw Mr. Walker as angry, demanding, gruff, blunt or in any way unpleasant. Smiling seemed to be as natural to him as breathing. His voice always was pleasant and, now in my memory, even soothing when my day has been anything less than easy.
I’m sorry to have to tell you that Mr. Walker passed away on Sept. 2. Even with the passing of a month, I cannot get him or his gentle ways off my mind. Even today, his face came flooding back into my thoughts and his voice echoed in my head as I scanned photos submitted by other people for future use in Back Then.
If you never met Mr. Walker, I am sorry that you have missed the chance to make the acquaintance of such a fine gentleman. If you did know him, well, you understand what this blog is about.
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Click here to see a gallery of photos from ‘A Rainbow in the West.’
Comments
By Victoria Bottoms
October 22, 2009 12:53 PM | Link to this
In reference to Mr. Chandler’s memories of Mr. Boice Walker, I had the pleasure of knowing him for 6 yrs. We had his autographed copies of “A Rainbow in the West” in our office (Down East Hearing Care). We still have 2 unautographed copies to sell (proceeds go to his family). We truly enjoy hearing our patients speak of their remembrances of the same time. Reading his book, I was taken back to a time when I wasn’t around, yet I felt as if I was experiencing it through his memories. He truly was a wonderful man and his smile still radiates through our office from a photo that we have of him. I hope that everyone has at least one person in their life that can bring to them what Mr. Boice Walker brought to those he knew.