Al Walker

Alpha H. Walker, Jr. passed away on June 3, 2018 at his home in Grapevine, Texas. He was born June 14, 1933 in Loves Valley, Oklahoma. He attended grades one through eight in Loves Valley and Marietta. On May 25, 1947, the family moved to Alamogordo, New Mexico, where his father worked at White Sands Proving Grounds. Al graduated from Alamogordo High School where he lettered in football and basketball.

After graduation he worked for Hughes Aircraft at Holloman Air Force Base. During the Korean Conflict he enlisted in the U. S. Navy and was stationed in Corpus Christi, Texas, and the Philippines. He worked on the flight crew aboard an aircraft carrier. He was a Mason, a bull rider, a world traveler and a big game hunter.

He always said he was the luckiest man alive because he started as a left-handed, flat-footed Okie and learned a craft that he loved; cable splicing. He started his own business, Walker Splicing, in 1970 in Columbia, Missouri. He later had office in Missouri, Texas, Florida and Arkansas. In 1982 he moved his business to Farmers Branch, Texas and later to Irving, Texas. He was a confidant to many and a friend to all. His employees referred to him as “Honest Al,” the working man’s friend.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Alpha H. Walker and Mary Jewell Patton Walker; three sisters, Bonnie Jean Walker Frazier, Maude Marie Walker Henderson, and Anita Patton Walker Smith; the mother of his boys, Betty Jean Christensen Sansom; and the mother of his girls, Mary Grace Johnson Walker Marling.

He is survived by his two sons, Jimmy Carl Sansom of Hamilton, Texas and Darrell Allen Sansom of Touchet; two daughters, Karen Lea Walker of Irving, Texas and Terri Lynn Walker Frost of Grapevine, Texas; eight grandchildren and nine great grandchildren; two sisters, Helen June Walker Allison of Roswell, New Mexico, and Linda Walker Boylson of Irving, Texas.

Visitation will be Thursday, June 7 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Lucas Funeral Home, 700 W. Wall, Grapevine, Texas 76051, and the Funeral Service will be on Friday, June 8 at 2 p.m. at Lucas Funeral Home.