Bobbie Lee Walters

Bobbie was raised by her parents, Maurice “John” and Arline Barber in Atlanta, Georgia. She attended Murphy High School and was a majorette and played in both the marching and concert bands. She was very talented and played bassoon, oboe, and clarinet as well as the cymbals. She later attended Marsh Draughon Business College in Atlanta.

She had a lifelong love for animals starting at age six with her award-winning parakeet JoJo and including dogs, cats, horses, and chickens. Bobbie could teach any animal to do tricks including her cats who could shake hands and roll over when “shot”.

Bobbie married very young and had a daughter, Dee. Tragically, Dee passed away from a sudden illness at age three. Bobbie’s marriage ended soon afterward.

Happily, Bobbie met a young man in 1964 who was recently discharged from service in the Army. She and John “Danny” Walters were set up by one of his friends on a blind date. It was love at first sight and by the end of the year, the two were married. John was a loan officer with Household Finance Corporation (HFC) who was transferred around quite a bit during their first years together. They lived in various cities in Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia but finally settled in Huntsville, Alabama, in the early 70’s.

Up until the time they lived in Huntsville, Bobbie was a homemaker who raised their two children, Pat and Arline. However, while there, Bobbie and John dreamed of channeling their desire to help other people into creating a home health agency. To accomplish this, John quit his job at HFC and earned a bachelor’s degree as a Registered Nurse at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. During this time, Bobbie worked at Montgomery Ward and later as a phlebotomist at Huntsville Hospital.

The family moved to Selma in 1977 and the couple became pioneers in the home health industry by founding West Alabama Home Health Agency. The company covered fourteen counties in West/Central Alabama and was later renamed Caregivers Home Health Agency after the corporate office was moved to Montgomery in the early 90’s. John and Bobbie sold the company in 1994 and retired to their home in Mathews to begin the next phase of their life together.

Bobbie and John spent a great deal of time in the Bahamas and at their second home in Pensacola during their retirement. They were often accompanied by their daughter, Arline, and their four grandchildren. Mumbee, as they called her, was devoted to her grandkids and passed along her love of life and her love for Jesus. When Pat married his wife, Kay, in 2007, Bobbie called her “daughter” and gave the same love and devotion to her new step grandchildren and greatgrandchildren.

Bobbie was a devoted follower of Jesus Christ and an active member of St James Church. She was a member of the United Methodist Women, was active in her Sunday school class, and went on a mission trip to help build a church in Oaxaca Mexico. Bobbie was also an active member of the Central Alabama Emmaus community attending Walk 130 and often served along with her husband, family, and friends in the background on other Emmaus Walks.

She is preceded in death by her daughter Dee Nabors, parents Maurice and Arline Barber, brother-in-law Melvin Cook, cousin Marylou Shook, and husband John Walters.

Bobbie is survived by her sisters Joan (Pete) King and Diane Cook; son Pat (Kay) Walters and daughter Arline McGrew; grandchildren, Ian (Gabriella), Evan, Kate and Will McGrew, Kristan (Ashir) Gruder, Megan Hildensperger, Matt (Sarah) Shaeffer, Ashley (Rick) Taylor, and Andrea Hildensperger; great grandchildren, Dakota-Grace and Olivia McGrew, Presley, Nolan, Cal and Ben Shaeffer, Brady and Lucas Taylor, and Bodhi Gruder.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that you please send donations to the Central Alabama Emmaus Community (www.caew.org) and St. James Church (sjlife.com).

A Celebration of Life Service will be held at Leak Memory Chapel at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 28, 2021 with visitation beginning at 1:00 p.m. Burial will be at Resthaven Memorial Gardens, Decatur, GA.