Ruby "Millie" Mildred (Shoemake) Walker

Ruby Mildred (Millie) Shoemake Walker was born on August 20, 1925 in Hull-Daisetta, Texas northeast of Liberty, Texas and died in Beaumont, Texas on October 13, 2019. She was the daughter of Archie and Ruby Lee Tullis Shoemake. She was preceded in death by her parents, her brother, Lewis Shoemake, her sister Eve May Shoemake Whitener, her husband and her grandson James (Jim) Walker.

Millie married Daniel (Dan) Walker, the love of her life in 1943 on Groundhog Day when she was just 17. Her sister Eve introduced her little red headed sister to Dan at halftime at a high school football game in Cleveland where Millie led the band as its drum major.

Together they shared 71 years of marriage. She is survived by their four sons; Daniel (Danny) L. and Bonnie Few Walker of Jasper, David and Suzanne Cooper Walker of Waxahachie, Bruce and Kathryn Tyler Walker of Beaumont and Newton (Lewis) and Virginia (Jenny) Kelley Walker of The Woodlands.

Millie and Dan also have 10 grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren and many, many other family members and friends.

Together, Millie and Dan owned clothing and shoe stores in Cleveland and Nacogdoches. She was also very active in her church, the First Baptist Church in Cleveland, where she taught the teenage girls’ Sunday School class and later as member of the First Baptist Church of Nacogdoches. She was also a Cub Scout Den Mother. She was President of the Cleveland Garden Club and won awards for flower arrangements.

In 1960 she and Dan moved the family to Nacogdoches so the boys could live in a college town. They joined the Piney Woods Country Club, where she learned to play golf and became active in the Ladies Golf Association. She was also a member of the Rotary Ann civic club.

Millie and Dan moved to Beaumont in 2014, after 50 years in Nacogdoches. She loved to read but rarely had much time to do so and served as the President of the Book Club at Pelican Bay Assisted Living.

All her life, Millie enjoyed people and enjoyed entertaining. While in Cleveland, she and Dan enjoyed 42 (a game with dominoes) parties and in Nacogdoches she and Dan served as Wagon Masters for golfing trips with their friends where somehow everyone always ended up in their room to laugh and talk about golf.

Another highlight of her life was a 2001 trip to Tuscany with their sons and their wives, where they celebrated Dan’s 81st birthday.

Surviving grandchildren are Karen Walker Kipp and her husband Kevin, Allen Walker and his wife Dana, Jennifer Tyler Spurgin and her husband John, Tyler Walker and his wife Heather, Thomas Walker, Clinton (Clint) Walker, Marshall Walker, Patrick (Pat) Garrett and his wife Lacey Batchman Garrett and Johnathan (John) Garrett and his wife Misti Gilstrap Garrett. Great grandchildren are Caroline Kipp Delin and husband Ryan, Lane Kipp and wife Claire, Austin Walker, Claire Walker, Tony Spurgin, Charlie Spurgin, Jack Spurgin, Annie Spurgin, Asher Garrett, Asa Garrett, and Mollie Mae Garrett. There are numerous cousins, nieces and nephews.

Memorial service will be held on Wednesday, October 16th at 2:00 pm at Cason Monk-Metcalf Funeral Directors in Nacogdoches, following a private interment at Sunset Memorial Cemetery. A visitation with the family will follow the memorial service. The family is requesting that donations be made to the First Baptist Church in Nacogdoches, Texas.

The family is very grateful for the care Millie and Dan received from the staff at Pelican Bay and Texas Home Health. Their last years were enriched by the community of caregivers they encountered during their time there and Millie loved them all.