James William Walker, M.D., died August 22, 2013 in Gainesville, Florida. He was born in Cookeville, Tennessee, August 16, 1927. After graduating from high school, he attended Vanderbilt University until he was old enough to enlist in the Navy’s V-5 program. At the end of WWII he received an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy planning to continue his career as a Naval aviator. During his plebe year he developed eye problems so he resigned at the end of the year and returned to Vanderbilt. Soon after graduating in 1949, he married Mary Bartlum of Orlando, Florida. He graduated from the University of Tennessee Medical School, and completed his internship and a year as a pediatric resident at the former Duval Medical Center before serving two more years in the Navy as a medical officer at the Armed Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Virginia. After completing his residency at Tulane University, he returned to Jacksonville to practice pediatrics with Dr. Richard G. Skinner. When Dr. J. Alfred Bowers joined them, they became known as Children’s Medical Group. He was active in the Duval County Medical Society, the Florida Medical Association and the American Medical Association. He also served on various boards in the community and was a member of the Southside Rotary Club. He left his practice to serve in several positions in the medical administration field. After he retired as the Director of the St. Johns County Health Dept., the Walkers moved to Oak Hammock at the University of Florida, a retirement community in Gainesville, Florida. His parents, Leslie James Walker and May Hensley Clark, and a sister Willeen Stanton, preceded him in death. He is survived by his wife Mary, his sons James William Walker, Jr., Leonard Bartlum Walker and his wife Elizabeth, and James William Walker, III, his granddaughter Sara Elizabeth Walker, and his grandsons Paul Weltch Walker and his wife Karen, John Bartlum Walker, and Henry William Walker, and his great grandson, Paul Weltch Walker, Jr. He is survived by his sister, Catherine Compton of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, her children Susan Lowe and David Compton, and the children of his deceased sister: Bruce, Bill, Leslie, and John Stanton and Catherine Howington. He will be buried in the family plot at Evergreen Cemetery in Jacksonville, FL. In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to the Alachua County Humane Society, 4205 NW 6th St., Gainesville, FL 32609 or to a charity of your choice. Arrangements are under the directions of Hardage-Giddens Funeral Home, 729 S Edgewood Ave., Jacksonville, FL.
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