Harry Gambol Walker, Jr.

Harry Gambol Walker, Jr., age 95, a resident of the Cypress Retirement Community of Raleigh, died Wednesday, July 28, 2021, at Transitions LifeCare. He died peacefully with his family by his side. His passing was remarkable in that it occurred on the same day, July 28, that his beloved wife Sallie died in 2012.

Harry was born on September 5, 1925 in Washington, N.C., the son of Harry G. Walker, Sr. and Rena Harding Walker. He was an outstanding student at Washington High School and a proud member of many Pam Pack sports teams. He went on to graduate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1947, after serving honorably in the U.S. Army Airforce at the end of World War II. He was a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity while at Chapel Hill and was a passionate Tar Heel sports fan for life. He married his college love, Sallie Lee from Goldsboro, N.C. in December 1949 and they had 63 wonderful years together.

Harry launched his business career after college at Burroughs Corporation selling newfangled adding machines across the Southeast. He was very successful and was promoted to a top position at the company’s headquarters in Detroit, Michigan. He and Sallie had four sons together by then and they sorely missed their friends and family in North Carolina, so they returned to Raleigh in 1960, where Harry started a partnership with a college friend in the auto parts distribution business. That business grew and in 1985, Harry bought out five stores, now named Walker Auto Stores. Over the last 36 years, he has welcomed three sons and three grandchildren into the family business and Walker Auto Stores has grown to 69 stores across the state, employing over 700 people.

Harry was also a man of strong faith, an original member and vestry warden at St. Michael’s Church. He was a long-term member and past president of the Raleigh Kiwanis Club, and a Board member at Raleigh Federal Savings and Loan. Socially, he was a member and past president of the Carolina Country Club, a member of the Sphinx Club and the Society of the Cincinnati. He and Sallie loved to dance together at the Assembly Dance Club functions. He was an avid golfer and tennis player and had a close group of friends that he would heartily compete with for over 30 years.

Harry most enjoyed time with his family – golf outings with his four boys, boating and fishing with his grandchildren and great grandchildren, walking the Greenway with Sallie and spending a week at Atlantic Beach every summer with his entire extended family, lovingly nicknamed “Walker Week”. He was generous and very supportive of his children and grandchildren in their education and life endeavors. He taught them how to be successful in business but even more so in leading a life of friendship and family, of love and generosity.

Harry is survived by his four sons and their wives, Harry and Linda, Borden and Michele, Dan and Kay, Nat and Curry, by his ten grandchildren and their spouses, Lee and Elizabeth, Louisa and Perry, Kimberly, Lindsay and Brian, Daniel and Abby, Drew and Sara, Sara, Nathan, Ty, and Will and his five great grandchildren, Anna, Henry, Tuller, Perry and Walker. He was devotedly cared for over the last three years by Martha Davis and her team, and his family is deeply appreciative. Harry’s energetic prodding to all -- “What are we doing next?” will be sadly missed by all who loved him.

A memorial service will be held at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church at 11am on Monday, August 2, 2021 with a reception to follow at the Parish Hall.

The family request in lieu of flowers that memorial contributions be made to St. Michael’s Church, 1520 Canterbury Road, Raleigh, N.C. 27608 or to the Rena Harding Walker and Julia Borden Lee Scholarship at St. Mary’s School, 900 Hillsborough Street, Raleigh, N.C. 27603.

Services provided by Brown-Wynne, Saint Mary's St., Raleigh.