Marietta Crowder Walker

A memorial service for the celebration of life for Marietta Crowder Walker will be held on Saturday, June 13, 2015 at 11:00 AM at Green Acres Baptist Church Chapel with Dr. Paul Powell officiating. Visitation will follow the service at the church. A private family burial will be held at Bascom Cemetery in Tyler, under the direction of Stewart Family Funeral Home. Marietta was born on January 15, 1927 in Lattimore, North Carolina to Forrest and Nellie Crowder, and married the love of her life, Dr. Kerfoot P. Walker, Jr. in June, 1957. Together they had three children, Kerfoot P. Walker, III (Pete), Amelia Nell Walker Proctor (Amy) and Dr. Christopher Warren Walker (Chris). She went home to be with Christ, her Lord and Savior, on June 8, 2015. Marietta was a loving and devoted wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. She loved caring for her husband and her family, was one of the best cooks in all of Smith County, and was an excellent seamstress as well. She had the gift of hospitality, and always had extra food and a clean plate for anyone who stopped by. She and Kerfoot hosted many guests in their home from all walks of life and cared for them all as members of their own family. Marietta was educated through high school in Lattimore public schools and received a Bachelor of Science in General Science from Wake Forest College. She received a Master of Science in Biochemistry and after four years of applying and being rejected for medical school because she was female, was accepted and received a Doctorate of Medicine from Bowman Gray School of Medicine. While studying there, she presented experimental papers on radioactive isotopes to nuclear scientists in Oakridge, TN and Alamogordo, NM. During medical school, she interned at the Children’s Hospital in Saluda, NC and in the orthopedic section in PA. Marietta’s post graduate internship was at University of Alabama Medical School, Birmingham, AL with work done in the Hillman Clinics and the University Hospital. As God would have it, changes to the intern assignment schedule allowed her to meet Kerfoot. The Walkers moved to Dallas and both finished Internal Medicine residencies at the Dallas Veterans Hospital. In 1960, they moved to Tyler where Kerfoot began his private internal medicine practice and Marietta remained at home with the children. After five years of intense motherhood, she accepted the position of Smith County Public School Health physician. She rapidly advanced in the American School Health Association and presented innovative school health programs to the national convention in New York. She became the Medical Director of the Tyler Smith County Health Department eventually aspiring to Medical Director of Region 7, Texas Department of Health. She oversaw the expansion of State health care into an intricate health service system for needy women and children throughout Region 7 and eventually Region 10, from the Arkansas border to the Gulf of Mexico. She continued in this position until her retirement in 1995. The Walkers applied to the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board in their early 30’s, only to be turned down because they were “too old;” thus began a lifetime of independent Christian mission trips. In 1968, she and the family drove from Tyler to Mexico City for the 1968 Summer Olympics and the following year they traveled through Mexico to the country of British Honduras (now Belize) to establish a government-sanctioned free medical clinic for the entire Toledo District. Since then they have frequently traveled around the world sharing God’s love through medical care. Marietta was instrumental in opening The Holt House for widows and widowers, served as a member of the Board of Directors of Christian Women’s Job Corp and YWAM, and numerous other organizations. She has been a member of Green Acres Baptist Church since moving to Tyler and she taught Sunday school to young married women for many years. In 2009, she was inducted into The Doctor Luke Society by Bethesda Health Clinic in honor of her years of service to the Lord through her medical profession. She is survived by husband Kerfoot; children Pete and wife Vicki, San Antonio; Amy and husband James and Chris and wife Tracy of Tyler; 12 grandchildren Micah, Bethany, Rachel, Hannah, Lydia, Kert, Kenai, Kemp, and Kalle Walker, Jordan Proctor, and Jessica and husband, Jordan Vasquez; and two great-grandchildren, Tucker and Hunter Vasquez. She is also survived by her brother Warren Crowder and wife Nellie, Lattimore, and sister-in-law Hestermae Nixon and husband Edwin, Bullard. The family is eternally grateful to Lolie Jean Small for a lifetime of service to our family and to Jesus Nazario for his excellent and loving care for Marietta over the past two years. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to The Holt House, 709 S. Bois D’Arc Ave., Tyler 75701, Chris tian Women’s Job Corp, 408 W. Locust St., Tyler 75702, Bethesda Health Clinic, 409 W. Ferguson St., Tyler 75702 or the Central America Missions at Green Acres Baptist Church, 1607 Troup Hwy., Tyler 75701.

Marietta Crowder Walker

January 15, 1927 - June 8, 2015