Post Script: One thing she loved more than books was sharing them

VIRGINIA BEACH

Dot Walker and books went hand in hand.

She was in a morning book group and an evening one. She started a library at St. Andrew's United Methodist Church and was a volunteer at the Virginia Beach Public Central Library. She often "read" books on a CD player as she cleaned house.

"She never met a book she didn't like," said her husband, Grant Walker.

Dorothy Walker, who died Dec. 10 at age 70, had an insatiable love of learning, especially about music, theater, opera, history and traveling. But the best part was sharing it with others.

Walker hardly ever showed up for a meeting or a get-together with friends empty-handed. She'd be toting a book, travel brochures, another article she'd relentlessly clipped from the paper or an item she thought you'd like.

"She would spend the first part of our meetings handing out things that you had once mentioned, forgotten about and she had remembered," said Fran Adams, who was co-president with Walker of the American Association of University Women. "She was always thinking of others."

Especially children. "She'd often drop into my office very excited about a book she'd found for children," said Rev. Jim Ullian, pastor at St. Andrew's. "She was the heart and soul of our library."

Petite and soft-spoken, Walker was known as thoughtful, steadfast and one of Hallmark's best customers. She'd just meet you and the next day you'd get a card, said her husband.

A Chicago native, she settled in Hampton Roads in the 1970s. She met Grant Walker at church. They both had grown children.

"One day I told her I was pretty handy and if she had anything to fix to call me," he said. "She called the next day." They married in 1987.

In addition to books, her passions were travel and the arts. She kept diaries and scrapbooks of the 14 trips she made overseas with traveling buddies. She also never missed an opening night at the opera and held season tickets at the Wells Theater.

Several months ago, Walker learned her cancer had returned. As usual, Ullian said, she spent her final weeks "making sure everyone else was OK."

One of the last things she did, said her stepdaughter Kate Delphia, was was to make sure a grandson, whose family had to put down the family dog just days before, had a special children's book to comfort him.

Fred Kirsch, (757) 446-2484, postscripts@pilotonline.com