Elizabeth "Beth" Ann (White) Walker

Elizabeth “Beth” Walker of Rogers died Tuesday 16 April 2024 in Temple. She was 91. Beth was born Elizabeth Ann White, the eighth of nine children, to David Marvin and Eunice Gray Hampton White on 3 August 1932 in Hamlin, Texas. She graduated from Hamlin High School in 1950 and headed off to Bethany Peniel College (Southern Nazarene University) in Bethany Oklahoma where she earned a degree in secretarial science. When her sister’s husband was killed in a work accident in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas in 1952, she moved there to help take care of her three young nieces. It was in The Valley at a Friday night football game that she met the man she would spend her life with. She married George Clinton “G.C.” Walker, Jr. on a snowy New Year’s Day 1955. They honeymooned from New Orleans to Biloxi to Pensacola in G.C.’s 1954 “Plastic Top” Ford Coupe. On the way to the coast, they spent their first night in the Central Texas town of Temple – where they would later live, work, and raise their family. She recently told the family that they ran out of gas near Pascagoula. When someone cast doubt saying they couldn’t believe that G.C. ever ran out of gas, she answered wryly, “I think he was a bit distracted!”

Beth married into an established beekeeping family and spent the next four decades as co-owner of Walker Honey Farm of Pharr with operations in the San Luis Valley of Colorado and at Midlothian, and later headquartered in Rogers. All three of their children were born in McAllen during “the Valley years.” G.C. was active in trade association advocacy and politics, and they traveled widely to attend beekeeping meetings all over Texas, the United States, and the world. During her 50+ year membership in the Texas Beekeepers Association and American Beekeeping Federation, she earned the love and loyalty of many lifetime friends through her hard work, dedication, and fun-loving spirit. In 2010 the Texas Beekeepers Association recognized her years of work and her lasting contributions by awarding her with their coveted “Beekeeper of the Year Award.”

Beth was a lifetime member of the Church of the Nazarene in Hamlin, McAllen, and Temple. She was an active member of Temple First Church of the Nazarene for more than 60 years. She and G.C. believed that the church should minister to the whole person. Beth was active in Nazarene World Missions, serving as the District President for a dozen years, and receiving the Distinguished Service Award from the San Antonio District in 2002. Beth and G.C. went on mission trips that once included construction of a church in the jungles of the upper Amazon River.

Beth was a life-long reader and instilled the love of learning into her children and grandchildren. She loved art, photography, gardening and fashion, and she brought creativity to all of her endeavors. Known for her dry humor, she could deliver a surprising punch line with a straight face. She planted colorful pansies, petunias, irises, lilies, roses, and crepe myrtles. She even dressed herself and those she loved with these same vivid colors of nature.

Beth was famous for her cooking, hospitality, and grace. She made the best lemon, chocolate, apricot, and rhubarb pies and berry cobblers with a crust that was second to none. She perfected fajitas before they were called fajitas, and she made the best crispy taco. But her dinner rolls, served hot–with honey, of course--are still spoken about by many of the countless souls who had the privilege to dine at her table. She canned, juiced, froze, and preserved just about everything. Family lore has it that G.C. once hauled home a pickup load of sweet corn saying “Beth will want to put up this corn.” One of her recipes even graced the pages of Southern Living . . . along with a story of the family honey business.

Beyond her cooking, many people experienced Beth’s kindness and generosity - as family, extended family, and friends attest with stories of her acceptance, love, grace, and belief in them. Whether she was teaching Sunday School, leading a Webelos Scout troop, coaching the winning Bible Quizzing Team, or presenting “Chalk Talks” at church, her smile and her spirit warmed countless lives.

Beth was predeceased by her parents, all of her siblings and their spouses, and by her husband G.C. Walker, Jr. who died 16 years to the week ahead of her. She is survived by her children, Ann Walker (Dallas); Clint Walker III and Janice (Temple); Jan Walker Gunter and Phillip (Round Rock); her beloved niece Cheryl Wallace Crabtree (Vernon), and four grandchildren Clinton Walker IV and Jordan (Granite Shoals); Austin Gunter (San Diego, CA); Jonathan Walker and Danielle (Jarrell); and Lauren Mikiten and Benjamin (San Marcos); and her two grandogs, Shelby and Emma of Greater East Heidenheimer.

The family will be receiving guests at Scanio-Harper Funeral Home on Airport Road on Wednesday April 24, 2024 from 5 to 7 p.m. A funeral service will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday, April 25, 2024 at First Church of the Nazarene, Temple. Graveside at Rockdale (IOOF) Cemetery in Rockdale at 2 p.m.

In her last years as her vision loss became profound, long-time family friend Domingo Montalbo became her driver and trusted companion, ferrying her around Temple and beyond, taking her to church, the hair salon, H-E-B, and more. In addition, the family wishes to thank the loving and skilled caregivers from Mrs. Bee’s Private Care, the fine staff at Garden Estates and Cornerstone Gardens, Scott and White Hospice, and especially her dear friend and caregiver Mary Martinez.

The family requests no flowers but donations may be made to Nazarene Compassionate Ministries ℅ First Church of the Nazarene, 5000 South 31st Street, Temple, TX 76502.