Rev. John J. Walker, 92, of Olathe, Kansas, went home to heaven early on the morning of March 30, 2016.



John was born on June 25, 1924 in Des Moines, Iowa, the son of John F. Walker and Augusta (Womelsdorf) Walker. He graduated from East High School in Des Moines, Iowa in 1941. He was drafted into service in 1943 and narrowly escaped fighting in the Battle of the Bulge. Instead, he saw no combat and served in the 1143rd Engineering Combat Group, a specialized group that built bridges and repaired roads ahead of allied troops. He earned four bronze battle stars. After the war, he returned to Iowa to attend school at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa. While studying at Wartburg, he met Marilyn Elise Wight at a roller skating rink. They were married on August 21, 1949. John graduated with a bachelor’s in English in 1950 and immediately began studying to be a pastor at Wartburg Seminary in Dubuque and interning at Faith Lutheran Church in Cuba City. John graduated with a bachelor’s in theology and became an ordained Lutheran minister in 1953.



His first pastorate job took the young couple to Sheboygan, Wisconsin where he served at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church (1953 – 1955). While in Sheboygan, the couple had their first child, Michelle Elise. Having received several calls, the Walkers decided to return to Dubuque, not because they liked the town but because it seemed like more of a “challenge.” St. Peter’s Lutheran (1955 – 1962) was next to the railroad tracks, which often made understanding sermons impossible. While at St. Peter’s, the Walkers welcomed their second child, Randolph John, and built a new “modern” church in a better location, staying just long enough to see it dedicated, for John had been invited to do post graduate work at Oxford.



The family spent a year in England while John attended, Mansfield College, Oxford University. John’s next calling took the family to Manchester, Missouri where he started St. Luke’s Lutheran (1963- 1970) from “scratch” with only his family as members. He left the church with more than 500 members and the church continues today. John’s final pastorate call was also his longest, serving as pastor of Overland Park Lutheran (1970 – 1989) in Overland Park, Kansas for 19 years before retirement in 1989. Throughout his career and even into his retirement, John continued to study, taking post-graduate course work in clinical pastoral education, dogmatics, biblical archeology, homiletics, theology and a master’s equivalent in gerontology. In 1995, he received his master’s in divinity from Wartburg Seminary. John brought many to lifelong faith, mentored four pastoral interns and officiated at his daughter’s wedding in 1975, his granddaughter’s baptism in 1985 and 2010 wedding.



Retirement did not mean John was finished serving. He continued to serve on many committees and boards using his later studies in gerontology to work with Johnson County Services for Seniors, Johnson County Mental Health and the Viktor Frankl Institute of Logotherapy. He was an interim pastor at St. Mark’s Lutheran in Olathe, acted as chaplain to many organizations and was a state and national member of the Youth Advocate Program. He and Kitty also saw the world, traveling extensively in western Europe and the Holy Land.



Survivors include his wife of 66 years, Marilyn Elise “Kitty” Walker, of the home; two children Randolph “Randy” John of Lawrence, Kansas and Michelle Elise and her husband Bob Ford of Olathe, Kansas; one granddaughter Madison Elise and her husband Jeremy Ediger of Overland Park, Kansas and one great-granddaughter, Avery Elise Ediger.



He is preceded in death by his parents; his siblings, Raymond Theodore (who died during the 1918 flu pandemic), Helen Marie (Walker) Barcus, Clarence Clifford and Eva K. (Walker) McConkey.



A visitation will be held on Tuesday, April 5 at 10 a.m. at St. Mark’s Lutheran in Olathe, followed by a service at 11 a.m. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in his memory to Metropolitan Lutheran Ministry (MLM) or Great Plains SPCA.