DATELINE/Kingman

BYRON E. WALKER

Byron E. Walker, 89, passed away Nov. 10, 2011 at Wheatlands Healthcare Center in Kingman, Kansas. .

He was born Feb. 22,1922 in Mankato, Kansas, the youngest son of George C. and Sarah Gilbert Walker. He had three older brothers and one younger sister.

Byron attended a series of country grade schools in southern Nebraska and northern Kansas, and graduated from Mankato High School in 1940. He played football and sang in the Glee Club in high school. He began working for the Kansas Forestry Fish and Game Commission in 1942, at the State Pheasant Farm in Meade, KS. He met his wife, June Ball, shortly after graduation and married her in June of 1942 in Meade. In October, he entered the U.S. Army, serving in the 778th Tank Battalion in the European Theater, and was mustered out in January of 1946. He went back to work at Meade, and was transferred to Kingman as Superintendent of the Calista Quail Farm in September of 1947.

When Byron started work at Calista, the area was almost wide open prairie or overgrazed pasture land. The emphasis of game management at that time was to grow and release game birds to the wild, thinking increasing the bird population artificially would increase the wild population and therefore hunting experiences. Today, the emphasis across the country is now on habitat development followed by a natural increase in bird populations.

The Byron Walker Wildlife Management Area, through Byron's 40 years of work, serves as an excellent example of wildlife management through habitat development. The lessons he taught college trained biologists through his self-taught practical knowledge are still talked about in the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks today. His legacy will continue.

Byron retired in 1987 after 45 years of working for the state of Kansas, but he never retired from his concern for the natural environment and all that lives in it. He consulted for Quail Unlimited and Ducks Unlimited and other wildlife organizations for several years after his formal retirement. He continued to write about habitat development as long as he could.

Byron was preceded in death by his parents; and his brothers Elmo in 1921; Waldo in 1979; and Gail in 2001. He is survived by his wife of 69 years, June Walker; and his 4 children: Danny Walker (and wife Shirla) of Laramie, WY; Larry Walker of Garden City, KS; Patricia Kane (and husband Ed) of Forest, VA; and Mary Walker of Goddard, KS. He also had 4 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren.

Services will be 2:00 p.m. Tuesday at Livingston's Funeral Home, Kingman KS. Visitation will be 1:00 to 8:00 p.m. Monday at the funeral home, with the family present from 5:00-7:00 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations to Wheatlands Healthcare Center, the Kingman Historical Museum, or the Wildlife Trust Program of the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks.

Livingston Funeral Home
620-532-3322