Joseph Lloyd Walker

A Life Well Lived: A Life Well Loved

The world has lost a wonderful man. Joseph “Joe” Walker passed away the evening of Monday, November 2, 2015, after a courageous battle with idiopathic lung disease.

Joe was born in Cherry Tree, Pennsylvania, on May 30, 1936, in the middle of the Great Depression. He was the second oldest of eight children and was raised by Sally Walker, his paternal grandmother. His life had a somewhat difficult beginning; however his naturally warm and curious temperament carried him through these early challenges. He was salutatorian of his high school class and moved to the “big city,” Cleveland, OH, in 1954 to start his life. He found a job, and a wife, at Johns Manville (JM). Evelyn “Evie” Yesso, the love of his life, was working as an executive secretary when she caught Joe’s eye. The whole Yesso family embraced Joe, and from then on he claimed Julie and Julius Yesso as his parents.

Joe served admirably as a Military Policeman from 1959 to 1961. He and Evie married in 1961 and settled down to enjoy each other and start a family. Craig, Jill and Tracy were born in Ohio. Joe moved the family to Chicago in 1975 and then to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1977 as he continued to move up the corporate ranks at JM. After JM went bankrupt 1987, Joe found a new corporate home at RJR Nabisco, where he worked until his retirement in 1998.

Joe was a quiet hero with a huge love of life and people. His priorities were family, friends, travel and shopping. He excelled at each. He travelled the world with Evie and close friends and, after her death in 1999, continued to explore the world with his children and new and old friends. He reconnected with his siblings and loved to talk with them about the “old days” and spend time with them creating new memories.

In 2007, Joe moved to Summerset in Brentwood, CA. He transitioned smoothly into the retirement community and filled his days with poker, pinochle, bocce and more travel. In 2010, he met the second love of his life, Arlette Bennett. They created a home together and continued to live life to the fullest. Arlette helped to make Joe’s final years happy and full of adventure.

Joe is preceded in death by Julius and Julie Yesso and Barney and Irene Walker, his parents, Evie Walker, his wife, and Geraldine Denison, Larry Walker and Sam Walker, his siblings.

Joe is survived by a large and loving family, including his children, Craig, Jill and Tracy, his partner, Arlette Bennett., Craig’s wife, Jessica Walker, Craig’s sons Mason (7) and Hudson (3), Jill’s husband, Daniel Griffee and Tracy’s daughters Kira (16) and Kylie (14) and by his siblings, Barb Lydic, Buck Walker, Evelyn Bridwell, Debbie Nemergut and by his sister-in-law Judy Dye (née Yesso).