William "Bill" Walker
Bill Walker of Moundville, Ala. passed away March 9, 2015, at the Moundville Health and Rehabilitation Center. Graveside services with full military honors will be at Oak Hill Cemetery in Moundville, Ala. at 3 p.m. on Thursday, March 12, 2015 with the Rev. Mary An Wilson officiating and Kirk Funeral Homes Greensboro Chapel directing. Visitation and reception will follow at the offices of Moundville Telephone Company on Corr Avenue in Moundville.
Bill was preceded in death by his parents, his brothers-in-law, and Mary Mildred Walker, his wife of forty-three years.
He is survived by two sisters Olive Robertson of Walla Walla, Wash. and Alice Lower of Bucyrus, Ohio; step-sons Sam J. Taylor, Jr. (Debbie) of Northport, Ala. and Larry P. Taylor (Patricia) of Tuscaloosa, Ala.; four grandchildren, Matthew Taylor of Mexico Beach, Fla., Adam Taylor of Orlando, Fla., Jami King of Hoover, Ala. and Scott Taylor of Tuscaloosa, Ala.; six great-grandchildren and five nieces and one nephew.
Bill was born in Minnesota on March 5, 1929 and raised in Hutchinson, Minn. Bill attended the University of Minnesota earning his B.S. degree with a double major in Engineering and Geology. Following graduation from college, Bill entered the U.S. Navy as a LTJG, serving aboard the aircraft carrier USS Princeton while attached to the Pacific Fleet.
Upon completing his Navy duties Bill worked for ARAMCO, the Arabian-American Oil Company, serving in the newly developing oil fields of Saudi Arabia and the Company's headquarters in Manhattan.
Bill left ARAMCO to join Wernher Von Braun's team of scientists and engineers at NASA in Huntsville, Ala. The team was then working on the design of the Saturn V rocket. While with NASA Bill continued his education at the University of Alabama, eventually earning Masters and Doctoral degrees in math and engineering. Bill's career at NASA saw him involved with all Saturn V launches, the Apollo Moon Missions, the Hubble Space Telescope, and the AstroLab array of X-Ray telescopes that flew aboard the Space Shuttle on three different missions. Bill also served as a member of one of three, four-man teams that managed to keep the crippled SkyLab in orbit until it was allowed to fall safely to earth. At the time of his retirement from NASA, Bill was working on the design of the navigation system for the X33 Space Craft, which was to have been the replacement for the Space Shuttle.
Following his retirement, Bill and Mary moved to Greensboro, Ala. and eventually to their home on Market Street in Moundville, Ala. where Bill settled in nicely as the gardener's helper; readily admitting that Mary's knowledge of plants and her green thumb trumped anything he could add to her beautiful gardens. Bill was the most amazing step-father, grandfather and great-grandfather. A man of towering intellect and a true adventurer who was most at home down on the floor playing with the kids.
Much loved and an inspiration to us all . . . he will be missed.
In lieu of flowers, the family respectfully request that donations to Hospice of West Alabama or the Jones Museum at Moundville Archaeological Park be considered.