Wesley Max Max"" Walker

Wesley Max Walker passed from this life to his heavenly home in the early morning hours of September 19, 2011. Max was born on January 25, 1923, to Wesley and Eva (Siever) Walker in Elkhart, Kansas. In 1925, the family moved to Fowler, Kansas, where Max lived and worked on the family farm for many years. He graduated from Fowler High School in 1940 and attended Friends Bible College and Sterling College, both in Kansas. After receiving a farm deferment from military service, he returned to Fowler. On September 11, 1943, he married Margaret Fisher in Liberal, Kansas. Max and Margaret recently celebrated their 68th wedding anniversary. Max was a member of the Loveland Church of the Nazarene.

In the early 1950’s Max began to realize his dream of small vehicle design. Working in a remodeled chicken house/farm shop, he built the first Walker Executive, one of the first gas-powered golf cars. He would work into the night hours after putting in a full day on the farm. The first manufacturing building was built in 1960, 100 yards from the family’s farm house. In 1962, Max began to design a small run-about vehicle called the Walker Power Truck. In 1968 the business was relocated to Casper, Wyoming, where the Power Truck was manufactured for a short period of time. In 1971, Max developed an agricultural tractor cab cooler for a company in Greeley, Colorado. Walker Manufacturing was contracted to manufacture the coolers. In 1974, the business was moved to Fort Collins, Colorado. In 1977, while still producing the coolers, Max began to design and build a riding lawn mower when he could not find one on the market that satisfied him. After making three prototypes, the Walker Mower was put into production and marketed in 1980.

Max Walker: husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, friend and encourager to many, but above all, a man of God. He lived a life of integrity, commitment and example. Max loved music and many will remember him playing the string bass and Margaret playing the piano, while they sang together for specials at church and revival services. Max’s children remember going to sleep at night while their parents practiced music.

Max had an incredible gift of design, and he always gave the credit to the Lord for the ideas that he had. He was able to design not only eye-pleasing products, but also ones that had a unique feature not offered on any other product of that type.

In 2001, Max suffered a stroke that impaired his ability to speak. He had always loved to meet and visit with people and had time be an encourager and mentor to many. He was always available to his children for guidance and counsel no matter how busy he might have been with work responsibilities. He enjoyed taking a stroll around the manufacturing plant, stopping to talk to his employees, perhaps giving them one of his signature firm handshakes. He had a way of making each individual feel special and valued. Max handled with grace, and sometimes even humor, his loss of fluent speech during the last ten years of his life.

He was preceded in death by his parents and a brother, Ray Walker, and grandson Daniel Max Walker. He is survived by his wife Margaret; sons Bob (Barbara) Walker and Dean (Suzanne) Walker; daughters Ruth (David) Saunders and Nina (John) Rattle; a brother, Kenneth Walker; 13 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren.

Visitation will be from 5-8 pm Thursday at Resthaven Funeral Home. A funeral service will be held at 1:00 p.m., on Friday, September 23, at Timberline Church in Fort Collins. Interment, Resthaven Memory Gardens. The family requests in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions be made to the Dan Walker Memorial Chapel through Resthaven or at www.danwalkermemorial.org.