Carole Lorraine Walker

In her own words, with light editing and additions by loving family members. Originally written to assist her granddaughter, Mary Covington Coleman, with a college essay regarding women in the workplace.

I was born November 15, 1935, to Essie and Fred Madden in a rural farmhouse southwest of Perry, Oklahoma. My great-uncle, Jim Madden, made the Cherokee Strip Run for land on September 16, 1893, and persuaded my parents to help him with the farm since he liked to travel. Shortly after I was born, he built them a small house so they could live on the farm. There was no running water or electricity.

My parents were wheat and dairy farmers. We milked 40 cows by hand and sold the milk and cream. We lived in the small house until my parents bought the adjoining quarter of land closer to the highway and built a larger house by moving and retrofitting an old schoolhouse building. They also dug a well and added a barn, work shed, fencing, and other improvements. We had electricity, but still no running water. I was 13 years old when we moved, and the rural water line was finally built after I was in college. My three younger siblings and I attended the one-room school located about a mile from our “new” house for all eight grades, then we transferred to Perry High School when we each started ninth grade. We all helped with building the new place and of course the farm chores.

I graduated from Perry High School in 1953 and started working that summer as a bookkeeper for the local Farmers’ Co-op. I continued working summers and school vacations at the Co-op throughout my college career. I graduated Phi Kappa Phi with a BS in Business Education from Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State University) in May 1957. During college, I worked various jobs on a part-time basis, and I actually paid for most of my education. I was a twirler all throughout high school and college and did exhibition events like using a flaming baton. I also loved to play softball and pitched for intramural teams.

I married Harold Dean Woods from Sayre, Oklahoma in September 1957. He had one more semester of college, so we lived in Perry and I continued working for the Farmers’ Co-op. Harold was in the Air Force and until 1979 we were stationed in Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Utah, Japan, Illinois, Hawaii, and North Carolina. We had two children, Cheri and Casey.

Wherever I’ve lived, I have been able to work full or part-time. My degree in Business Education has served me well. It has allowed me to teach or work in an office. My bookkeeping experience from the Farmers’ Co-op led to some elective accounting courses in college, which helped me immensely to be the bookkeeper-accountant for 15 years at the NC State Faculty Club. And every kind of experience dealing with people has been an asset for my work at the NC Legislature as an administrative assistant for 15 years.

In 1987, I married Robert Dawes Walker, Sr. of Raleigh, NC and was blessed with his large and loving family. We greatly enjoyed traveling, playing golf, keeping up with family, and spoiling our precious Yorkshire terriers Okie, Missy, Darlyn, and Angel, until his death in 2014 at the age of 93. Bob and I traveled to Hawaii, China, Alaska, and many destinations in between. You would often find us together at North Ridge Country Club having dinner with friends, playing golf, or attending various social functions.

Carole Lorraine Walker passed away November 13, 2024, suddenly and unexpectedly on a usual busy day doing the things she loved. Just two days away from the age of 89, she was still volunteering at Millbrook United Methodist Church and ALTA A-Z Thrift Shop. She was a devoted participant in Bible studies, Tai Chi, and never missed a Sunday service at Millbrook UMC. She continued to stay active at North Ridge Country Club playing golf, meeting friends for Prime Rib night and Sunday Brunch, and was learning pickleball after reluctantly giving up decades of tennis. (She also used to play a mean racquetball game). She enjoyed gathering with friends for cards, Mahjong, lunches and dinners out, and trips to the NC mountains and beyond. She improved her garden and kept a lot of birds fed and happy. And always, she kept up with family and the many friends she made wherever she lived.

Carole was preceded in death by her husband, Bob; her former husband, Harold; her two brothers Kenneth Lee Madden and Dale Ace Madden; and her step-daughter, Jane Walker Perkinson.

She is survived by her daughter, Cheri Woods Taylor; son, Casey Dean Woods; sister, Ada Jean Westling (Lyn); sister-in-law, Celia Madden; numerous nieces and nephews and their children; step-daughter Margaret (Peggy) Walker Ramseur (Bob); step-son Robert (Bob) Dawes Walker, Jr., (Lynne); seven step-grandchildren, Robert James Ramseur, Jr. (Amanda), Kathryn Ramseur Keith (Jamie), Robert Dawes Walker III, John Bowen (Bo) Walker (Suzanne), Mary Covington Coleman (Ed), John Robert Perkinson, and Trudy Perkinson Roberts; nine step-great-grandchildren, Robert Ramseur, Walker Ramseur, Meghan Keith, Lauren Keith, Free Perkinson, Wilder Walker, Bennett Walker, Ward Coleman, and Becca Coleman.

Memorial contributions may be made in her memory to Millbrook United Methodist Church, or to the charity of your choice.

A Memorial Service will be held at 11:00 am November 20, 2024 at Millbrook United Methodist Church in Raleigh, NC, followed by a reception at the church for the family to receive friends. A Celebration of Life will be held at North Ridge Country Club and interment of ashes at Raleigh Memorial Cemetery in January 2025. She will rest in peace next to her beloved husband, Bob.