Obituaries / LJWorld.com

Obituaries

Funeral services for Wesley B. Walker, 76, will be at 11 a.m. Monday at Ninth Street Missionary Baptist Church with the Rev. William A. Dulin and Pastor Delmar A. White officiating. Burial with military honors conducted by Dorsey-Liberty Post No. 14 of the American Legion will follow at Oak Hill Cemetery.
Mr. Walker died Saturday, Nov. 5, 2011, at Westlake Hospital, Melrose Park, Ill.
He was born May 19, 1935, in Lawrence, the son of Glen Everett and Alice Jane Kiser Walker.
He retired from General Motors in River Grove, Ill., as an auditor. He previously worked for Stokely-Van Camp, in the chemistry department at Kansas University, George William College, Chicago, and the U.S. Postal Service in Broadwell, Ill.
Mr. Walker was a boxer, winning 97 title matches. He was a member of the tri-state Boxing Commission and helped to establish Missouri AAU Boxing.
He was a Lawrence boxing coach from 1961 to 1967 and competed as a world-class wheelchair athlete, winning gold medals in shot put, discus and the javelin in 1971 at the Pan American Games in Kingston, Jamaica. He served in the U.S. Army and boxed for the U.S. Army Third Armored Division, light heavyweight, and was the champion in the light heavyweight in 1959 and 1960. He also participated in track and field for the 3rd Armored Division in the U.S. Army and placed third in the shot put. In September of 2010 he was selected to the “Hall of Honor” at Lawrence High School.
He was a member of New Kingdom Christian Center in Bellwood, Ill., and attended Calvary Church of God in Christ until his health wouldn’t permit him to do so.
He was preceded in death by his parents.
Survivors include three brothers, Howard Walker and Steven Walker and wife, Barbara, all of Lawrence, and Donald Walker and wife, Doretha, of Wichita.
Friends may call from noon to 8:30 p.m. Sunday at the Rumsey-Yost Funeral Home, where the family will receive friends from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Sunday.
The family suggests memorials to Hospice Care, Boys & Girls Club, or Calvary Church of God in Christ, sent in care of the Rumsey-Yost Funeral Home, 601 Ind., Lawrence, KS 66044.