Sydney W. Walker, 89, of Grangeville, Idaho, and a former Baker City resident, died Aug. 19, 2006, at Life Care Center in Lewiston, Idaho.
His funeral will take place Thursday at 2 p.m. at the Blackmer Funeral Home in Grangeville. Inurnment will be Friday at 2 p.m. at the Prairie View Cemetery in Grangeville.
Sydney was born Sept. 2, 1916, at Steele, N.D., a son of Sydney A. and Faye Crofoot Walker. The family moved to Grangeville, where he graduated from high school in 1936. Following his graduation the family moved to Baker City, where he worked in the shoe department of Robb’s Ladies Wear and Hadley’s, and later for his lifelong friend, Francis Schmidt, at The Bootery. By coincidence, his daughter, Jean, opened The Gourmet Goose in 1980 in the same location as that store.
Syd’s father, Sydney A. Walker, was pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Baker City from 1936 to 1950.
Syd met his wife-to-be, Helen Babcock, in Weiser, Idaho, and they were married on March 6, 1940, in Baker City. They lived in Huntington and Weiser, where Syd worked for the Union Pacific Railroad. They moved to Payette, Idaho, and then to Nyssa, where he operated several milk routes for the Payette Creamery. They moved back to Grangeville in 1952, where Syd worked part-time for Arley Haener at Inland Lumber. Syd started a garbage route in 1953 on a part-time basis, which went to full-time in short order and is now known as Walco. Mrs. Walker died in 2005 after 65 years of marriage.
Syd was active in the Elks Lodge. He loved horses, fishing, traveling in their motor home with friends, and spending winters at their home in Yuma, Ariz. He also loved to collect antiques such as saws, sad old irons, bottles, food grinders and more.
Syd is survived by his son and daughter-in-law, Butch and Dorothy Walker of Grangeville; his daughter and son-in-law, Jean and Bill Heizer of Baker City; his grandchildren: Monica Walker, Mariett and Patrick Holman, and B.J. Walker, all of Grangeville, and Brent and Rhonda Ricks of Portland; his great-granddaughter, Hailey Uhlenkott of Grangeville; and his sisters, Lois Weider of Wyoming and Ruth Bogue of Portland.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Helen; his parents; and a brother, Keith.
Condolences to the family may be e-mailed to: Blackmerfuneralhome.com.
Used with permission from: Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, August 25, 2006
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor